The game was released in North America on September 16, 2008, in Australia and Southeast Asia on September 17, and in Europe on September 19. LucasArts released downloadable content for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.[2] An Ultimate Sith Edition of the game, containing new and all previously released expanded content, was released in November 2009,[3] which also came out on Mac OS and Microsoft Windows.

The project bridges the first two Star Wars trilogies, acting as an origin story for both the united Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Civil War depicted in the Original Trilogy. The game introduces a new protagonist, "Starkiller", as Darth Vader's secret apprentice, who is tasked with hunting down Jedi while killing rebels and Imperials alike in order to hide his existence from the Emperor, but soon starts to slowly redeem himself to the light side of the Force.

Reviews offered fairly positive response, praising The Force Unleashed for its compelling story, robust physics, impressive art and soundtrack, while some more negative reviews cited frustrating gameplay. Despite this, the game was a bestseller in the United States and Australia, with over one million copies sold its debut month. As of February 2010[update], the game has sold over seven million copies, and it is the fastest-selling Star Wars video game.[4] A sequel, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, was released in October 2010.[5]

The Force Unleashed is a third-personaction game in which the player's character's weapons are the Force and a lightsaber.[6] Developers treated the main character's lightsaber like another Force power, and wanted to ensure "something visceral and cool" happened with each button-push.[6] The game has a combo system for stringing lightsaber attacks and for combining lightsaber attacks with Force powers.[6]Experience points earned by killing enemies and finding artifacts can be used to increase Starkiller's powers and traits.[7] The gameplay is intended to be easy to learn; the development team included "horrible" gamers to help ensure the game's accessibility.[8] Players can casually run and gun through the game, but the game rewards those who take a stealthy, more tactical approach.[8] The game includes enemies that are easy to overcome; game difficulty arises from presenting these enemies in large numbers that can wear down the player's character.[9] Additionally, enemies learn from the player's character's attacks; using the same attack on different characters can sometimes lead to the player's character doing less damage.[10] The enemies, which number over 50, have various strengths and weaknesses; developers faced the difficulty of effectively placing them throughout the game's varied environments.[9]

The Nintendo versions of the game exclusively allow players to use motion controls to control Starkiller's attacks and participate in multiplayer battles. The Wii version uses the Wii Remote to execute lightsaber attacks and the Nunchuk to wield Force powers, and allows two players to fight each other as any of the various Jedi and Sith from the Star Wars universe in one-on-one multiplayer duels.[11] The Nintendo DS version utilizes the touchscreen to execute attacks, where single actions can be executed by tapping a certain region of the screen (with each region corresponding to a particular action, such as jumping or Force pushing), while more advanced attacks can be performed by dragging the stylus across neighboring regions of the screen.[12] Its multiplayer mode allows up to four players who have copies of the game to fight each other.[13]

Set in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, Darth Vader is sent by Emperor Palpatine to destroy a Jedi named Kento Marek who survived Palpatine's Jedi purge and is hiding on the Wookiee homeworld, Kashyyyk. The Force Unleashed begins with the player controlling Darth Vader as he searches Kashyyyk for Marek.[14][15] After defeating Marek in battle, Vader discovers his child, Galen Marek, who is strong in the Force and raises him to become his apprentice, unbeknownst to the Emperor.

When the apprentice (known in the game as "Starkiller", and whom the player now controls) reaches adulthood, Vader sends him to kill the remaining Jedi as training for his ultimate goal: assassinating the Emperor so Vader and Starkiller can rule the galaxy together. Starkiller travels between missions aboard the Rogue Shadow, developing a close relationship with his crew, consisting of lightsaber training droid PROXY and Imperial pilot Juno Eclipse.[16] Starkiller is first sent to defeat an aging Jedi Master that has his own security force: Rahm Kota. In this fight, Kota sees various visions of Starkiller's future before being blinded by Starkiller's lightsaber and falling to the ecumenopolis of Nar Shaddaa below. He is then sent to defeat an insane Jedi Master on Raxus Prime who has animated pieces of metal to create droids: Kazdan Paratus. Paratus and all of his droids are destroyed, including Paratus's mock Jedi Council. Finally, Starkiller is sent to kill former Jedi Councilwoman Shaak Ti on Felucia. Ti has militarised the local Force-sensitive Felucians as well as influenced the local fauna to attack Starkiller. Ultimately unsuccessful, Shaak Ti prophesises that the Sith will always turn on one another before she commits suicide by jumping into the sarlacc pit, becoming a Force ghost.

Ti's prophecy comes true immediately. The Emperor discovers Starkiller's existence and forces Vader to kill the apprentice; Vader impales Starkiller and hurls him into space, but secretly dispatches droids to retrieve and revive him. Vader sends his apprentice to foster a rebellion among those who resist the Empire, distracting the Emperor so Vader can make his move. Despite being ordered by Vader to sever all ties to his past, Starkiller rescues Juno, who had been arrested and branded a traitor to the Empire. Starkiller proceeds to break into various Imperial facilities and recruit several allies, including Rahm Kota (who had survived his fall after the battle in the TIE Fighter shipyard), Princess Leia Organa, and her father Senator Bail Organa. In the process, Starkiller learns from Kota about the Jedi way, which ultimately leads him into sparing Jedi apprentice Maris Brood, who had succumbed to corruption by the Dark Side after the death of her master Shaak Ti on Felucia. Juno eventually discovers Starkiller is still working for Vader, but after berating him, agrees not to say anything. As a major strike to rally the Empire's enemies and prove the Empire is vulnerable, Starkiller destroys a Star Destroyer facility on Raxus Prime. With Kota's instruction, Starkiller amazingly pulls a massive Star Destroyer out of the sky with the Force.

Senators Organa, Mon Mothma, and Garm Bel Iblis meet on Corellia to plan a rebellion against the Empire, but are interrupted when Darth Vader arrives and arrests them and Kota. Vader attacks Starkiller and reveals that he was never meant to overthrow the Emperor; from the beginning, he was the Emperor's tool to expose his enemies, and that Vader's plans to overthrow the Emperor did not include Starkiller. PROXY sacrifices himself to distract Vader and allow Starkiller to escape. Starkiller uses the Force to ascertain the senators' and Kota's location: the Death Star. Upon arrival, Starkiller shares a kiss with Juno before bidding her goodbye. Inside the space station, Starkiller duels Darth Vader and manages to defeat his former master. As the Emperor goads Starkiller into killing Vader, Kota steals the Emperor's lightsaber and tries to attack him, but is incapacitated by the Emperor's Force lightning.

If the player chooses the light side, Starkiller fights and defeats Emperor Palpatine, but Kota prevents him from killing Palpatine in hatred. The Emperor renews his attack and Starkiller, whilst absorbing it, sacrifices himself by opening his body to the Force, while Kota and the senators escape on the Rogue Shadow. The Emperor and Vader look over Starkiller's corpse, concerned that he has become a martyr to inspire the newly formed Rebel Alliance. Senator Organa and the others agree to proceed with their rebellion and Leia decides to use Starkiller's family crest as the Rebellion's symbol. Outside, Juno talks to Kota, who tells her that among Starkiller's dark thoughts, Juno herself was one bright spot that he held onto right until his death.[17] This is the ending depicted in the novelization and this was the canonical ending until Lucasfilm rebranded the expanded universe into "Star Wars Legends".

If the player chooses the dark side, Starkiller kills Darth Vader. The Emperor then offers to let Starkiller take Vader's place as his apprentice if Starkiller proves himself by killing Kota. Starkiller instead attacks the Emperor, who effortlessly crushes Starkiller with the Rogue Shadow, severely injuring him and killing Kota, Juno, and the Senators. The story ends with Starkiller's broken body being grafted with armor so he can serve as the Emperor's assassin, though Palpatine assures Starkiller that he, like Vader, will be cast aside when he finds a new apprentice. The Infinities expansion content builds on this ending.[18]

Sam Witwer as Galen Marek/Starkiller — The child of two Jedi, Starkiller becomes Darth Vader's secret apprentice and is dispatched by his master to kill the Jedi who survived Palpatine's Jedi purge.[19][20] Although acting as a villain, Starkiller is "really just [a] damaged kid."[21] Developers decided not to give Starkiller a name in the game, but the novelization gives his name as Galen Marek.[22][23] Although Starkiller starts as Vader's apprentice, a focus of the game is to allow the character to evolve into "something more heroic, something greater."[20] Audio director David Collins saw a resemblance between Starkiller concept art and his friend, Witwer; Collins asked for Witwer's headshot and an audition reel, and a few weeks later Witwer sat for a 45-minute audition.[24] Witwer secured the role by demonstrating to developers his deep understanding of the character;[25] in portraying Starkiller, Witwer brought many new ideas about the character and imbued him with a sense of humanity.[21] Developers tried not to make Starkiller so evil that players would have difficulty connecting to him.[21]The Force Unleashed’s character's name is an homage to "Annikin Starkiller," the original name of the character that eventually became Luke Skywalker.[26][27]

Matt Sloan as Darth Vader — Starkiller's master, who discovers Starkiller as a child and trains him.[20] In addition to dispatching Starkiller to kill the remaining Jedi, Vader also presents plans to unite with Starkiller to overthrow the Emperor, although there are "twists and turns" in this scheme.[20] The events depicted in The Force Unleashed are pivotal to Darth Vader's history and development.[28]

Nathalie Cox as Juno Eclipse — Rogue Shadow’s pilot and Starkiller's love interest.[29][30] Eclipse was not originally part of the game; early concepts had the apprentice as an older character who develops a connection with a young Princess Leia.[31] Star Wars creator George Lucas, uncomfortable with this idea, encouraged the developers to create a love interest.[31] The apprentice, who has had limited interaction with women when the game begins, does not at first know how to act around her.[31] Her introduction early in the game allows the relationship with Starkiller to develop, and her inclusion helps "recapture that rich ensemble feel of the original Star Wars".[31] According to Sean Williams, who wrote the novelization, the romantic storyline is the key to The Force Unleashed.[28] The name "Juno Eclipse" was originally proposed as a name for the character eventually called "Asajj Ventress" — it was rejected for Ventress as insufficiently villainous.[31]The Force Unleashed project lead Haden Blackman brought the name back for the mythic quality of the name "Juno" and the duality suggested by an "eclipse."[31] Cox, in addition to strongly resembling the character's concept art, had "integrity and poise" appropriate to Juno Eclipse that helped the actor secure the role.[25]

Cully Fredricksen as General Rahm Kota — A Jedi Master who provides Starkiller with additional insight into the Force.[30] Developers realized early that Starkiller would require insight into the Force from someone other than Darth Vader; after rejecting the idea of this coming from the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn or some version of Darth Plagueis, they decided to fill this role with one of Starkiller's Jedi opponents.[31] The character was conceived as a "tough-as-nails" contrast to Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi.[31] Senior concept artist Amy Beth Christianson drew upon samurai influences for Kota's appearance.[21][31] The character changed little after being conceived; Fredricksen's own traits made the character tougher.[31] Fredricksen was the first actor cast for the project.[25]

Adrienne Wilkinson as Maris Brood — A Zabrak survivor of the Jedi Purge and Shaak Ti's apprentice.[31] The character was originally conceived to become a pirate captain, and Christianson's early art included Brood's lightsaber tonfas.[31] Wilkinson brought strength to her performance, leading to an expansion of the role with more dialogue.[31]

David W. Collins as PROXY — Starkiller's droid sidekick.[20] Collins said PROXY has C-3PO's innocence but also is "really dangerous."[20] The companion trade paperback describes the conflict between PROXY's primary programming to kill Starkiller and its self-imposed desire to help him;[32] PROXY is eager to please Starkiller, but does not know how dangerous it can be or that there is a conflict between its programming and Starkiller's wishes.[21] Trying to avoid having PROXY's dialogue become too reminiscent of either C-3PO or the villainous HK-47 of Knights of the Old Republic, developers focused on PROXY's friendly naïvety.[21]

Game planning began in summer 2004.[36] Initially, about six developers started with a "clean slate" to conceptualize a new Star Wars game; the small group of engineers, artists, and designers spent more than a year brainstorming ideas for what might make a good game.[37] Over 100 initial concepts were whittled down to 20 to 25 that included making the game the third entry in the Knights of the Old Republic series or having the protagonist be a Wookiee "superhero", Darth Maul, a bounty hunter, a smuggler, a mercenary, or the last member of the Skywalker family.[8][38][39][40] The decision to focus on the largely unexplored period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope helped energize the design team.[37] Consumer feedback helped the developers narrow in on seven concepts, and elements from those seven went into The Force Unleashed's overall concept.[8]

Production was greatly aided by concept art, which was intended to visually bridge the two Star Wars trilogies, convey the impression of a "lived-in" universe, show how the galaxy changes under Imperial rule, and to seem familiar yet new.[21][36] An off-hand comment about the Force in the game being powerful enough "to pull a Star Destroyer out of the sky" inspired an image by senior concept artist Amy Beth Christenson that became an important part of the developers' idea pitches and evolved into a major moment in the game.[21] These illustrations also inspired the creation of dozens of simple, three-dimensional animations.[36] Eventually, a one-minute previsualization video highlighting the idea of "kicking someone's ass with the Force" helped convince the designers that The Force Unleashed would be "a great game";[36][41] George Lucas, upon seeing the one-minute video, told the designers to "go make that game".[41] Once the concept was solidified, the development team grew from ten to twenty people.[42] The idea of "reimagining" the Force as "amped up" in The Force Unleashed aligned with LucasArts' overall goal of harnessing the power of the latest video game consoles to "dramatically" change gaming, specifically through the use of simulation-based gameplay.[37]

In April 2005, after several months of planning, the LucasArts team received Lucas' encouragement to create a game centered on Darth Vader's secret apprentice in the largely unexplored period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, drawing the two trilogies together.[19][38][39][43] LucasArts spent six months developing the story.[8] Lucas spent hours discussing with the developers the relationship between Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine and provided feedback on what Vader would want out of and how he would motivate an apprentice.[44][45] Lucas Licensing reviewed many game details to ensure they fit into canon.[46]Focus group feedback indicated that, while hunting down Jedi at Vader's order would be fun, the character should be redeemed, in keeping with a major Star Wars motif.[8] Although the game introduces new characters, developers felt the presence of characters already part of Star Wars would help anchor the game within the official continuity.[21] Before the game's release, Lucasfilm claimed it would "unveil new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy" with a "redemption" motif.[19][47] The story progresses through a combination of scripted events, in-game cinematics, cutscenes, and dialogue.[44]

During pre-production, about 30 people were on the project team.[42] LucasArts spent several years developing the tools and technology to create The Force Unleashed.[49] Prototyping, level construction, marketing, and public relations took about a year.[8] Until late 2006, the production team was ascertaining "how many polygons, lights, [and] characters" next-generation platforms supported;[42] a year of full production began in early 2007.[8] A series of quickly-produced "play blast" videos helped the developers focus on mechanics, the user interface, and finishing moves.[21] Development of the Xbox 360 version came first; PlayStation 3 development started when the production team had enough development kits.[38] Making the game run on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 was "a monumental task".[44]

The game is based on LucasArts' proprietary "Ronin" game engine but also integrates third-party technology: Havok for rigid body physics, Pixelux Entertainment's "Digital Molecular Matter" (DMM) for dynamically destructible objects, and NaturalMotion's Euphoria for realistic non-player characterartificial intelligence.[38] LucasArts' programmers had to overcome technical hurdles to get Havok-, DMM- and Euphoria-coded components to interact.[14] Developers also had to strike a balance between realistic and entertaining physics.[14] LucasArts initially opted not to release a personal computer version of The Force Unleashed, stating that doing the game well would be too processor-intensive for typical PCs[19] and that scaling down the game's procedural physics for the PC platform would "fundamentally" change The Force Unleashed's gameplay.[50] However, LucasArts later announced Windows and Mac versions of the game, developed in conjunction with Aspyr Media, for release in Fall 2009.[51]

Lacking Havok, Euphoria, and DMM, Krome's Wii version relies on the company's in-house physics engine.[52] Some character animations may be ragdoll while others are preset; in developing the game, Krome tried to blur the distinction between the two.[52] The lighting system in the Wii version is more advanced than that in the PS2 version, which Krome also built; the PS2 includes more graphic details than their PSP version.[52]

The Force Unleashed is intended to make players think they are "actually, finally, in a Star Wars movie".[53] It is the first game on which LucasArts and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) collaborated since they both relocated to the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco, California.[47] This collaboration allowed the companies to co-develop tools to make film-quality effects.[54] LucasArts worked with ILM's Zeno tool framework and helped ILM build its Zed game editor.[55] Lucas said having the two companies working together in the same building was "a great collaboration".[56]

It took Senior Manager of Voice and Audio Darragh O'Farrell four months to cast The Force Unleashed.[57] ILM's face- and motion-capture "CloneCam" technology recorded actors' voice and physical performances.[49][58] This led to a change in LucasArts' casting process: for the first time, actors needed to match characters' age and gender.[58] Actors performed their lines together, rather than in isolation, to better get the sense of their characters interacting with each other.[49] Consequently, the script's dialogue was reduced while reliance on characters' expressions — captured through the CloneCam — increased.[58] CloneCam technology had previously been used in producing the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.[58]

LucasArts music supervisor Jesse Harlin said the music matches the game's motif of redemption and goal of bridging the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope:

We had to make sure that the game's score started off rooted within the Prequel Trilogy feel of ethnic percussion and sweeping themes that spoke to the nobility and grandeur of the old Jedi Order. As the game progresses, however, the Empire gains more control, the Jedi are hunted, and the ordered control of the Prequels gives way to the more romantic temperament of the Original Trilogy.[59]

The game's soundtrack includes material composed by John Williams for the films in addition to material created specifically for The Force Unleashed. Jesse Harlin composed the game's main theme, while Mark Griskey composed the score. Griskey made use of several motifs from the film scores as well as Harlin's main theme.[59][60] The 90-minute soundtrack was recorded by the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and mixed at Skywalker Sound in Lucas Valley in September and October 2007.[59] During gameplay, a proprietary engine combines "musical elements according to the pace, plot, and environment of the game at any given moment", resulting in a unique musical experience.[60] A promotional soundtrack album was made available online through Tracksounds.com in 2008.[60]

Two weeks after the game's release, LucasArts announced development on two downloadable expansion packs for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game.[61] The first expansion added "skins" that allow the player's character to appear as Star Wars figures other than Starkiller, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn, Jango Fett, C-3PO, Luke Skywalker, Darth Maul, Darth Sion, Mace Windu, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto and Ki-Adi-Mundi.[61] The skins chosen to be part of the expansion were based in part on fans' feedback.[62] The second expansion pack added a new mission that expands on Starkiller's background.[63] Although a moment in the game's main story was considered as a "jumping off point" for the expansion, LucasArts decided instead to make the new mission instantly accessible to players.[62] The mission's location — the Jedi Temple on Coruscant — appears in the Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable versions of The Force Unleashed, but was cut during planning from the PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms.[62]

The Tatooine Downloadable Content, released August 27, 2009, is the first of two expansions that occur in an "Infinities" storyline,[18] an alternate history in which Starkiller kills Vader and becomes Palpatine's assassin.[18][64] The second Infinities expansion, which takes place on Hoth, was originally only available as part of the Ultimate Sith Edition, which also includes all previous downloadable content.[18] However, the Hoth expansion was later made available for download on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.[65]

1.738 million unit sales of The Force Unleashed across all platforms made it the third best-selling game globally in the third quarter of 2008;[102] as of July 2009, it had sold six million copies.[18]The Force Unleashed was both the fastest-selling Star Wars game and LucasArts' fastest-selling game.[103]The Force Unleashed won a Writers Guild of America award for Best Video Game Writing.[104]

The Force Unleashed received mixed to fairly positive reviews. Electronic Gaming Monthly said the game is "ambitious--yet dissatisfying";[100] however, GameSpot said the game "gets more right than it does wrong".[76] GameSpot said the PC port of the game retained all of the game's strengths and weaknesses, but that the port failed to take advantage of the PC platform.[74]

GameSpot called the game's story "more intimate and more powerful" than the Star Wars franchise's prequel trilogy;[76]X-Play identified the game's story as one of the game's "few bright spots" and said the game's visuals successfully convey Star Wars' "classic used universe" feel.[88]GamePro and GameSpot praised the game's art and physics, and GamePro also commended Starkiller's "cool powers".[105][106]IGN praised the game's voice acting, particularly Witwer's performance as Starkiller.[83]The Washington Times identified Mark Griskey's soundtrack as "another star" of the game, and Tracksounds called it "the most entertaining Star Wars score since Return of the Jedi".[33][60]Time called The Force Unleashed the seventh best video game of 2008.[107] The game received GameSpot's 2008 award for Best Use of a Creative License and was nominated for Best Voice Acting.[101][108] Gaming Target selected the game as one of their "40 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2008".[109]

Conversely, Entertainment Weekly called The Force Unleashed the second worst game of 2008 and GameTrailers called it the most disappointing game that year;[110][111] it was also a nominee for GameSpot's Most Disappointing Game recognition.[112]Official Xbox Magazine cited the game's linear gameplay and lack of multiplayer as reasons the game falls short of being "an all-engrossing Star Wars experience".[100]gamesTM suggested that allowing players to take a hack-and-slash approach means many "will never view the title's full potential".[100] IGN and X-Play criticized some boss battles and enemies' behavior;[88][113]GamePro also faulted "disappointing" boss battles and the game's "uneven" combat.[105] Rather than feeling more powerful as the game progresses, GamePro felt that increases in Starkiller's powers were dampened by increasingly difficult enemy abilities and positions;[105] X-Play commented that despite a good level-up system, Starkiller and his enemies are "pretty much on even ground most of the time".[88]Wired.com, X-Play, and GameSpot criticized the game's third-person camera and the sequence that requires the player to make Starkiller pull a Star Destroyer out of the sky.[76][88][106][114] Wired.com speculated that LucasArts could have recognized the frustration of the Star Destroyer sequence and removed it, but left it in because they hyped the sequence before the game's release.[114] Wired.com and GameSpot further criticized the load times and abrupt gameplay-cinematic transitions.[76][106][114] GameSpot also faulted "loose" targeting and some visual and audio glitches.[76][106] IGN, which also identified problems with targeting, speculated that DMM's processor intensiveness limited its use throughout the game, detracting from players' ability to feel immersed.[113] GameTrailers and IGN were disappointed with the lack of variety within and between levels.[83][115] X-Play, pointing to "Default Text" as the bonus objective description in the Xbox 360 version's final mission and other glitches, said it seems the developers one day "just stopped working on the game".[88] GameSpot cited the port's lack of visual options and poor framerate as evidence the PC edition had been rushed.[74]

IGN described the Jedi Academy expansion as "pretty decent".[116] GameSpot said LucasArts seems to have acknowledged some of the game's criticisms in developing the Tatooine expansion,[64] but IGN called the level's boss fights "a joke" in light of the player's high Force powers.[117] IGN found the level design in The Ultimate Sith Edition's Hoth scenario uninteresting, and called the boss fight against Luke Skywalker tough but "not nearly as fun" as it could have been.[117]

The demo was the fourth most-played Xbox Live game during the week of August 25, trailing Grand Theft Auto IV, Halo 3, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare;[118] it was the ninth most-played Xbox Live title throughout all of 2008.[119] The week it was released, The Force Unleashed was the sixth most-played game on Xbox Live, and it rose to fifth the following week.[120][121] In its first week on sale in Australia, the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of The Force Unleashed were the top and second-best sellers, respectively.[122] In the United States, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version sold 325,000 and 610,000 copies, respectively, in September 2008; that month, the Xbox 360 version was the best-selling game and the PlayStation 3 version was the fifth best-selling game for their respective consoles.[123][124]

Nintendo Power praised the story and the number of lightsaber combos but criticized the game's easiness and hack-and-slash gameplay.[125] It also praised the Wii version for its story and Force powers, but criticized the game's lightsaber controls and linear gameplay.[125] GameSpot noticed visual glitches and problematic audio compression that detracted from the Wii version's "mature and exciting" story, adding that the reduced number of Force-manipulable objects helps mitigate the targeting problems experienced on other platforms.[78] Referring to the Wii remote and nunchuck controls, GameSpot also speculated that The Force Unleashed is "possibly the most waggle-heavy" Wii game.[78]Zero Punctuation criticized the Wii version's graphics and compared lightsaber combat to "trying to follow an aerobics routine with both your arms tied to different windmills".[126] The ability to upgrade Starkiller's abilities in the PS2 version, according to IGN, is not as "robust" as it should be, and the game's targeting system is sometimes frustrating.[127] IGN said the PS2's real-time cutscene rendering made Starkiller seem emotionless, and that pre-rendered cutscenes would have been better.[82] GameSpot found the DS version's plot interesting but the storytelling itself "lackluster".[73] While the DS version is easy, with Starkiller killing enemies "like a hot knife through butter", GameSpot said the player's sense of power is not matched by a sense of freedom.[73] GameSpot called the PSP version's camera "unwieldy", but added that smaller and less cluttered environments make the targeting system less frustrating than on other platforms.[77] The Wii version was a nominee for multiple Wii-specific awards from IGN in its 2008 video game awards, including Best Story and Best Voice Acting.[128][129]

In the week of its release, the Wii version was the sixth bestselling game in Australia and was second to Wii Fit among games for that platform.[122] The PS2 version was the eighth bestseller in Australia, and both the PS2 and PSP versions were the top sellers on their respective platforms.[122] The DS version was eighth most sold among DS games in Australia.[122] In the United States, the Wii version sold 223,000 copies in September 2008, making it the ninth best-selling game that month.[123][124] In the United States, the PlayStation 2 version was the 14th best-selling game in September 2008, selling over 100,000 copies.[130]

1.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (project)
–
Star Wars, The Force Unleashed is a multimedia project developed by LucasArts along with Dark Horse Comics, Lego, Hasbro, and Del Rey Books. Set between Star Wars, Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars, the story explores the aftermath of the Great Jedi Purge as well as the rise of Darth Vader. Ultimately, Starkiller sacrifices his life to save the leaders of the new Rebel Alliance, sean Williams novelization was released in the United States on August 19,2008. It spent one week as #1 on both Publishers Weeklys and The New York Times hardcover fiction bestsellers lists, slipping to #7 and #9, respectively and it also reached #15 on USA Todays bestsellers list. Williams took on the project in part because of the catchy description of The Force Unleashed being Episode 3.5 of the Star Wars saga. The novel focuses on the side of the Force and its practitioners. The author most enjoyed developing the character of Juno Eclipse, exploring the side of The Force Unleashed in a way the video game does not. The Force Unleashed game was released in North America on September 16,2008, and in Australia and Southeast Asia on September 17,2008, and was released in Europe on September 19,2008. The Apprentice was licensed to Namco Bandai Games to be a character in both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Soulcalibur IV. At Toy Fair 2007, Hasbro showed seven figures from their action figure based on the game. Lego released a model of the main ship, the Rogue Shadow. Dark Horses The Force Unleashed graphic novel was published August 18,2008, newsarama called the graphic novel a solid story that matches the video game source material in both structure and plot. IGN gave the novel a score of 6. 9/10, praising the overall story but faulting inconsistency in the art. Official website Star Wars, The Force Unleashed on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki

2.
LucasArts
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LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game publisher and licensor. Until 2013, it was also a game developer. LucasArts is best known for its graphic adventure games, as well as based on the Star Wars. Its headquarters are located in San Francisco, California and it was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as Lucasfilm Games, the video game development group of his film company, Lucasfilm. Lucas initially served as the companys chairman, during a 1990 reorganization of Lucas companies, the Lucasfilm Games division was renamed LucasArts. LucasArts was acquired by The Walt Disney Company through the acquisition of its parent company Lucasfilm in 2012, on April 3,2013, Disney halted all internal development at LucasArts and laid off most of its staff. However, LucasArts remained open so that it could retain its function as a licensor, development of games based on the Star Wars license will be performed by Electronic Arts, through an exclusive license, for the core gaming market. Disney Interactive Studios retained the ability to develop, and LucasArts retained the ability to license the franchise for the gaming market. Development of video based upon other Lucasfilm properties will now be assumed by Disney Interactive Studios or licensed to third parties. The company was founded in May 1982 as the game development group of Lucasfilm Limited. Lucas wanted his company to branch out into areas of entertainment. The Lucasfilm Games Group originally cooperated with Atari, which helped fund the video game groups founding, the first results of this collaboration were unique action games like Ballblazer in 1984, and Rescue on Fractalus. In 1984, they were released for the Atari 5200 under the Lucasfilm Games label, versions for home computers were not released until 1985, by publisher Epyx. Lucasfilms next two games were Koronis Rift and The Eidolon and their first games were only developed by Lucasfilm, and a publisher would distribute the games. Atari published their games for Atari systems, Activision and Epyx would do their computer publishing, Maniac Mansion was the first game to be published and developed by Lucasfilm Games. The early charter of Lucasfilm Games was to make experimental, innovative, Habitat, an early online role-playing game, was one such title. It was only released as a beta test in 1986 by Quantum Link, Quantum Link could not provide the bandwidth at the time to support the game, so the full Habitat was never released outside of the beta test. However, Lucasfilm Games recouped the cost of development by releasing a sized down version called Club Caribe in 1988, Lucasfilm later licensed the software to Fujitsu, who released it in Japan as Fujitsu Habitat in 1990

3.
Krome Studios
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Krome Studios Pty Ltd. is an Australian video game company. Its headquarters were in Brisbane and it previously had offices in Adelaide, Krome Studios is best known for their Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games and for their reboot of the Spyro the Dragon franchise. The company was founded in 1999 by Robert Walsh, who is the current CEO, Steve Stamatiadis, the director and John Passfield. Krome has created games for the Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Game Boy Advance, Dreamcast, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Macintosh, Krome has also developed for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation Portable, Windows Phone 7, iOS and Windows 8. Krome Studios are award winning developers, that have created 19 titles on multiple platforms and languages consisting of 40 SKUs, including Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, Krome’s own IP. Also in this year Krome Studios entered into a sharing agreement with Emergent Game Technologies. On 18 August 2010, it was reported that Krome had closed down their Adelaide studios and made significant staff cuts to their Melbourne and Brisbane offices, with as many as 100 staff let go. On 18 October 2010, it was reported that all remaining staff were let go, however, in July 2012, Krome Studios re-opened their website which remained dormant since their fall in 2010, announcing that Ty the Tasmanian Tiger would return. Since then Krome have developed two games based on Ty the Tasmanian Tiger for iOS and PC and they have also developed several other titles for iOS, including Play Maker and Whole Wide World and Toy Soldiers, Boot Camp, on Windows Phone 7

4.
Universomo
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Universomo Ltd. was a Finnish video game developer based in Tampere, Finland. It was founded in 2002, and acquired by THQ on May 9,2007, Universomo also has offices in Helsinki, Finland and San Diego, United States. Universomo is focused on games for mobile phones, the iPhone, on January 12,2010 THQ announced a Nintendo DS game Beat City developed by Universomo, marking the developers first entry to the handheld gaming market. On March 2,2010 the shutdown of the studio was announced while THQ Wireless will continue developing games with external studios, Beat City Star Wars, Cantina Dash WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 Treasure Grab Indiana Jones and the Lost Puzzles Up Prison Tycoon Star Wars, crypto Does Vegas MX vs ATV Untamed Juiced 2 Stuntman Ignition Oceans 13 Emergency Mayhem 300, The Mobile Game Lego Star Wars II Mobile Stones of Khufu Destroy All Humans. 2 Rollercoaster Rush Magic Inlay Bionicle Heroes Juiced Eliminator Bounce Out Gorillaz Entertainment System Habbo Creatures Habbo Dreams Get Rich or Die Tryin Gem Drop PileUp, Star Wars Battle Above Coruscant Stunt Plane Sumo Smash. Trails of Terror - Mutiny Kloner - Together in the Dark Bones - The First Adventure Official THQ Wireless website Official THQ website Pocket Gamers coverage on Universomo

5.
Aspyr Media
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Aspyr Media, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. Established in 1996, the company specializes in porting video games from Microsoft Windows to macOS, popular franchises ported under Aspyrs banner include Call of Duty, Civilization, Star Wars, The Sims 2 and Borderlands. By 2003, Aspyr owned 60 percent of the Mac entertainment market, apart from macOS and Linux, platforms Aspyr ports to range over Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, iOS, Android and Windows Mobile. In addition to the porting of games, Aspyr also offers publishing services. Aspyr has also produced and distributed several albums and documentaries, gameAgent List of games ported by Aspyr Official website

6.
THQ
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THQ was an American video game developer and publisher. Founded in 1989, the company developed products for video game consoles and handhelds, personal computers. Its name derived from Toy Headquarters during its time as a toy manufacturer in the early 1990s, THQ had offices in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The company published both internally created and externally licensed content in its product portfolio, THQs internally created games included the Saints Row, Red Faction, MX vs. ATV, Company of Heroes, and Dawn of War series among others. The company also held exclusive, long-term licensing agreements with leading sports and entertainment content creators such as WWE, Nickelodeon, Disney, Pixar, in addition, most of the remaining staff were laid off. In 2014, the THQ trademark was acquired by Nordic Games and it renamed itself THQ Nordic in August 2016. In 1989, Trinity Acquisition Corporation was founded in New York as a corporation to raise money for a future venture in an unspecified field of activity. One year later in April 1990, former LJN co-founder Jack Friedman established the toy company, THQ, Inc. in Calabasas, THQ was an abbreviation for Toy Headquarters. THQ acquired Brøderbunds video game division in September 1990 and released its first video game, Peter Pan, though always formally called THQ, the company typically traded as T•HQ in video games box arts and instruction manuals. In 1991, THQ agreed to be acquired by Trinity Acquisition Corp. in a stock swap valued at about $33 million with THQs shareholders owning 51. 7% of the new entity, THQs name was retained for the new company and Friedman was named as its president. THQ then acquired video game developer Black Pearl Software of Chicago in 1993, THQ withdrew completely from the toy business in 1994 to focus solely on video game production. In addition, the dropped the • from its label. Jack Friedman then left the company in 1995 to co-found the toy manufacturer Jakks Pacific, in 1997, THQ was reincorporated as a Delaware Corporation, and acquired San Diego video game developer Pacific Coast Power & Light. In 2000, THQ introduced a new slanted logo for the new millennium, in February of that year, THQ faced a class action lawsuit over federal securities laws violation due to nondisclosure of material information. In September of the year, the company expanded its internal product development capabilities with the acquisition of Volition, Inc. located in Champaign. Since then, THQs internal studio system grew to eleven studios across the globe with distinct capabilities across all gaming platforms. Some of these studios, such as Relic Entertainment, Vigil Games, Blue Tongue Entertainment, Juice Games, Kaos Studios and Volition, THQ went on to acquire Vigil Games in 2006. On May 10,2007, THQ reported its highest annual sales figures, THQs revenues reached over $1 billion

7.
Activision
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Activision Publishing, Inc. also known as Activision, is an American video game publisher. It was founded on October 1,1979 and was the worlds first independent developer and its first products were cartridges for the Atari 2600 video console system published from July 1980 for the US market and from August 1981 for the international market. As of January 2017, Activision is one of the largest third party video game publishers in the world and was also the top publisher for 2016 in the United States, before Activision, third-party developers did not exist. Software for video game consoles were published exclusively by makers of the systems for which the games were designed, for example, Atari was the only publisher of games for the Atari 2600. This was particularly galling to the developers, as they received financial rewards nor credit for games that sold well. Kaplan, who called the others the best designers for the in the world, recalled that Kassar called the four men towel designers and that anyone can do a cartridge. Crane, Miller, and Whitehead left Atari and founded Activision in October 1979 with former music industry executive Jim Levy and venture capitalist Richard Muchmore, David Crane has said the name Activision was based on Jim Levys idea to combine active and television. The original name proposed for the company was VSync, Inc, unlike Atari, the company credited and promoted game creators along with the games themselves. The steps taken for this included devoting a page to the developer in their instruction manuals and these approaches helped the newly formed company attract experienced talent. In recognition of this step, Kaplan, Levy, Miller, the departure of the four programmers, whose titles made up more than half of Ataris cartridge sales at the time, caused legal action between the two companies not settled until 1982. As the market for game consoles started to decline, Activision branched out, producing titles for home computers. In 1982, Activision released Pitfall. on the Atari 2600, designed and developed by David Crane, it was a huge success. Many clones of the game were introduced, including arcade games. On June 13,1986, Activision purchased struggling text adventure pioneer Infocom, Jim Levy was a big fan of Infocoms titles and wanted the company to remain solvent. About six months after the InfoWedding, Bruce Davis took over as CEO of Activision, Davis was against the merger from the start and was heavy-handed in its management. Five of them accepted this offer, in 1988, Activision began involvement in software besides video games, such as business applications. As a result, Activision changed its name to Mediagenic to better represent all of its activities. After taking over the company, the new management filed for a Chapter 11 reorganization, in the reorganization, Mediagenic merged with The Disc Company with Mediagenic being the surviving company

8.
Haden Blackman
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W. Haden Blackman is an American writer and video game designer. As a child, Blackman would read comic books during long road trips and he wrote a book called “The Field Guide to North American Monsters, Everything You Need to Know About Encountering Over 100 Terrifying Creatures in the Wild. He also wrote another book called The Field Guide to North American Hauntings, Everything You Need to Know About Encountering Over 100 Ghosts, Phantoms. While working at LucasArts he wrote several Star Wars comics, including Jango Fett, Open Seasons and Star Wars, on 29 July 2010 he resigned from his position at LucasArts after thirteen years. His last project at LucasArts was Star Wars, The Force Unleashed II and his last LucasArts interview was conducted on July 30,2010, in which he described how he had difficulties getting the game finished on time. After leaving LucasArts, he wrote Batwoman for DC Comics but left the series due to issues with control, such as not being allowed to have the characters Kate Kane. His run on the series lasted for 24 issues and four story arcs, on 30 December 2013 it was announced that he would write Elektra for Marvel Comics, which marked his debut writing for them. It was announced on February 26,2015 that he would write Master of Kung Fu for Marvel, on Dec 04,2014 it was announced that he had created a new video game studio called Hangar 13 Games. He was quoted as saying I wanted to build the kind of games that I enjoy playing. From my perspective, the studio was confirmed to be working on an unspecified game. The game was confirmed as Mafia III, a sequel of Mafia II which he will be directing with his new studio Hangar 13. He was nominated for an GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book for Batwoman

9.
Video game programmer
–
A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which fall under the term of game programmer. A game programmer should not be confused with a game designer, in the early days of video games, a game programmer also took on the job of a designer and artist. This was generally because the abilities of computers were so limited that having specialized personnel for each function was unnecessary. Technology has advanced to such a degree that contemporary games usually boast 3D graphics. Nowadays, the term programmer art has come to imply the kind of bright colors. The desire for adding depth and assets to games necessitated a division of labor. Initially, art production was relegated to full-time artists, next game programming became a separate discipline from game design. Now, only games, such as the puzzle game Bejeweled, are simple enough to require just one full-time programmer. Despite this division, however, most game developers have some say in the design of contemporary games. Each aspect of the game can consume all of one time and, in many cases. Some programmers may specialize in one area of programming. The number of programmers needed for each feature depends somewhat on programmers skills, Game engine programmers create the base engine of the game, including the simulated physics and graphics disciplines. Increasingly, video games use existing game engines, either commercial and they are often customized for a particular game, and these programmers handle these modifications. A games physics programmer is dedicated to developing the physics a game will employ, typically, a game will only simulate a few aspects of real-world physics. For example, a game may need simulated gravity. Since processing cycles are always at a premium, physics programmers may employ shortcuts that are computationally inexpensive, in other cases, unrealistic physics are employed to allow easier gameplay or for dramatic effect. Sometimes, a subset of situations is specified and the physical outcome of such situations are stored in a record of some sort and are never computed at runtime at all

10.
Video game music
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Video game music is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was limited to simple melodies of early sound synthesizer technology. With advances in technology, video game music has now grown to include the same breadth and complexity associated with television and film scores, while simple synthesizer pieces are still common, game music now includes full orchestral pieces and popular music. Music in video games can be heard over a title screen, options menu. Today’s soundtracks can also change depending on a player’s actions or situation, Video game music can be one of two options, original or licensed. In order to create or collect this music, teams of composers, music directors, today, original composition has included the work of film composers Harry Gregson-Williams, Trent Reznor, Hans Zimmer, Josh Mancell, Steve Jablonsky, and Michael Giacchino. The popularity of game music has expanded education and job opportunities, generated awards. At the time video games had emerged as a form of entertainment in the late 1970s, music was stored on physical medium in analog waveforms such as compact cassettes. Such components were expensive and prone to breakage under heavy use making them less ideal for use in an arcade cabinet, though in rare cases. Sound effects for the games were also generated in this fashion, an early example of such an approach to video game music was the opening chiptune in Tomohiro Nishikados Gun Fight. The first game to use a background soundtrack was Tomohiro Nishikados Space Invaders. It had four descending chromatic bass notes repeating in a loop, though it was dynamic and interacted with the player, the first video game to feature continuous, melodic background music was Rally-X, released by Namco in 1980, featuring a simple tune that repeats continuously during gameplay. The decision to any music into a video game meant that at some point it would have to be transcribed into computer code by a programmer, whether or not the programmer had musical experience. Some music was original, some was public domain music such as folk songs, Sound capabilities were limited, the popular Atari 2600 home system, for example, was capable of generating only two tones, or notes, at a time. As advances were made in technology and costs fell, a definitively new generation of arcade machines. This was further improved upon by Namcos 1982 arcade game Dig Dug, Dig Dug was composed by Yuriko Keino, who also composed the music for other Namco games such as Xevious and Phozon. Home console systems also had an upgrade in sound ability beginning with the ColecoVision in 1982 capable of four channels. However, more notable was the Japanese release of the Famicom in 1983 which was released in the US as the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985

11.
Game engine
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A game engine is a software framework designed for the creation and development of video games. Developers use them to games for consoles, mobile devices. The process of development is often economized, in large part, by reusing/adapting the same game engine to create different games. In many cases game engines provide a suite of development tools in addition to reusable software components. These tools are provided in an integrated development environment to enable simplified. Game engine developers attempt to pre-invent the wheel by developing robust software suites which include many elements a game developer may need to build a game, most game engine suites provide facilities that ease development, such as graphics, sound, physics and AI functions. Gamebryo, JMonkey Engine and RenderWare are such widely used middleware programs, however extensibility is achieved, it remains a high priority for game engines due to the wide variety of uses for which they are applied. Some game engines only provide real-time 3D rendering capabilities instead of the range of functionality needed by games. These engines rely upon the developer to implement the rest of this functionality or assemble it from other game middleware components. These types of engines are referred to as a graphics engine, rendering engine. This terminology is used as many full-featured 3D game engines are referred to simply as 3D engines. A few examples of engines are, Crystal Space, Genesis3D, Irrlicht, OGRE, RealmForge, Truevision3D. As technology ages, the components of an engine may become outdated or insufficient for the requirements of a given project. Since the complexity of programming a new engine may result in unwanted delays. Such a framework is composed of a multitude of different components. The actual game logic has to be implemented by some algorithms and it is distinct from any rendering, sound or input work. The rendering engine generates 3D animated graphics by the chosen method, before hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, software renderers had been used. Game engines can be written in any programming language like C++, C or Java, though language is structurally different

12.
Computing platform
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Computing platform means in general sense, where any piece of software is executed. It may be the hardware or the system, even a web browser or other application. The term computing platform can refer to different abstraction levels, including a hardware architecture, an operating system. In total it can be said to be the stage on which programs can run. For example, an OS may be a platform that abstracts the underlying differences in hardware, platforms may also include, Hardware alone, in the case of small embedded systems. Embedded systems can access hardware directly, without an OS, this is referred to as running on bare metal, a browser in the case of web-based software. The browser itself runs on a platform, but this is not relevant to software running within the browser. An application, such as a spreadsheet or word processor, which hosts software written in a scripting language. This can be extended to writing fully-fledged applications with the Microsoft Office suite as a platform, software frameworks that provide ready-made functionality. Cloud computing and Platform as a Service, the social networking sites Twitter and facebook are also considered development platforms. A virtual machine such as the Java virtual machine, applications are compiled into a format similar to machine code, known as bytecode, which is then executed by the VM. A virtualized version of a system, including virtualized hardware, OS, software. These allow, for instance, a typical Windows program to run on what is physically a Mac, some architectures have multiple layers, with each layer acting as a platform to the one above it. In general, a component only has to be adapted to the layer immediately beneath it, however, the JVM, the layer beneath the application, does have to be built separately for each OS

13.
PlayStation 2
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The PlayStation 2 is a home video game console that was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the successor to the PlayStation, and is the installment in the PlayStation lineup of consoles. It was released on March 4,2000 in Japan, October 26,2000 in North America, November 24,2000 in Europe and it competed with Segas Dreamcast, Microsofts Xbox, and Nintendos GameCube in the sixth generation of video game consoles. Announced in 1999, the PlayStation 2 was the first PlayStation console to offer backwards compatibility for its predecessors DualShock controller, the PlayStation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all time, selling over 155 million units, with 150 million confirmed by Sony in 2011. More than 3,874 game titles have been released for the PS2 since launch, Sony later manufactured several smaller, lighter revisions of the console known as Slimline models in 2004 and well on, and in 2006, announced and launched its successor, the PlayStation 3. Sony unveiled the PlayStation 4 console the following month on February 20,2013, Sony announced the PlayStation 2 on March 1,1999. The Dreamcast itself launched very successfully in North America later that year, soon after the Dreamcasts North American launch, Sony unveiled the PlayStation 2 at the Tokyo Game Show on September 20,1999. Sony showed fully playable demos of upcoming PlayStation 2 games including Gran Turismo 2000 and Tekken Tag Tournament – which showed the consoles graphic abilities, the PS2 was launched in March 2000 in Japan, October in North America and November in Europe. Sales of the console, games and accessories pulled in $250 million on the first day, directly after its release, it was difficult to find PS2 units on retailer shelves due to manufacturing delays. Another option was purchasing the console online through websites such as eBay. This allowed the PS2 to tap the large install base established by the PlayStation – another major selling point over the competition, later, Sony added new development kits for game developers and more PS2 units for consumers. The PS2s built-in functionality also expanded its audience beyond the gamer and this made the console a low cost entry into the home theater market. The PS2 remained as the only active sixth generation console for over 6 months, before it would face competition from rivals, Nintendos GameCube and Microsofts Xbox. While the PlayStation 2 theoretically had the weakest specification of the three, it had a start due to its installed base plus strong developer commitment. Sony also countered the Xbox by temporarily securing PlayStation 2 exclusives for highly anticipated games such as the Grand Theft Auto series and Metal Gear Solid 2, Sons of Liberty. Sony cut the price of the console in May 2002 from US$299 to $199 in North America, making it the price as the GameCube. It also planned to cut the price in Japan around that time and it cut the price twice in Japan in 2003. In 2006, Sony cut the cost of the console in anticipation of the release of the PlayStation 3, Sony, unlike Sega with its Dreamcast, originally placed little emphasis on online gaming during its first few years, although that changed upon the launch of the online-capable Xbox

14.
PlayStation 3
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The PlayStation 3 is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the successor to PlayStation 2, and is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles and it was first released on November 11,2006, in Japan, November 17,2006, in North America, and March 23,2007, in Europe and Australia. The PlayStation 3 mainly competes against consoles such as Microsofts Xbox 360, the console was first officially announced at E32005, and was released at the end of 2006. It was the first console to use Blu-ray Disc as its storage medium. In September 2009, the Slim model of the PlayStation 3 was released and it no longer provided the hardware ability to run PS2 games. It was lighter and thinner than the version, and featured a redesigned logo and marketing design. A Super Slim variation was released in late 2012, further refining and redesigning the console. The system had a start in the market but managed to recover. As of March 2016, PlayStation 3 has sold 85 million units worldwide, putting it about on par with Xbox 360 and its successor, the PlayStation 4, was released later in November 2013. On September 29,2015, Sony confirmed that sales of the PlayStation 3 were to be discontinued in New Zealand, in March 2017, the official site for PlayStation 3 in Japan was updated to state that it would be discontinued soon. Sony officially unveiled PlayStation 3 to the public on May 16,2005, at E32005, Video footage based on the predicted PlayStation 3 specifications was also shown. Two hardware configurations were also announced for the console, a 20 GB model, the 60 GB model was to be the only configuration to feature an HDMI port, Wi-Fi internet, flash card readers and a chrome trim with the logo in silver. Both models were announced for a worldwide release, November 11,2006, for Japan and November 17,2006, for North America. On September 6,2006, Sony announced that PAL region PlayStation 3 launch would be delayed until March 2007, because of a shortage of materials used in the Blu-ray drive. Also, the price of the Japanese 20 GB model was reduced by over 20%. During the event, Sony showed 27 playable PS3 games running on final hardware, PlayStation 3 was first released in Japan on November 11,2006, at 07,00. According to Media Create,81,639 PS3 systems were sold within 24 hours of its introduction in Japan, soon after its release in Japan, PS3 was released in North America on November 17,2006. Reports of violence surrounded the release of PS3, a customer was shot, campers were robbed at gunpoint, customers were shot in a drive-by shooting with BB guns, and 60 campers fought over 10 systems

15.
Wii
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The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19,2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii competed with Microsofts Xbox 360, Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others. The Wii introduced the Wii Remote controller, which can be used as a pointing device. Another notable feature of the console is the now defunct WiiConnect24, like other seventh-generation consoles, it features a game download service, called Virtual Console, which features emulated games from past systems. It succeeded the GameCube, and early models are fully backward-compatible with all GameCube games, Nintendo first spoke of the console at the E32004 press conference and later unveiled it at E32005. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata revealed a prototype of the controller at the September 2005 Tokyo Game Show, at E32006, the console won the first of several awards. By December 8,2006, it had completed its launch in the four key markets, in late 2011, Nintendo released a reconfigured model, the Wii Family Edition, which lacks Nintendo GameCube compatibility, this model was not released in Japan. The Wii Mini, Nintendos first major redesign since the compact SNES. The Wii Mini can only play Wii optical discs, as it omits GameCube compatibility and all networking capabilities, the Wiis successor, the Wii U, was released on November 18,2012. On October 20,2013, Nintendo confirmed it had discontinued production of the Wii in Japan and Europe, although the Wii Mini is still in production, the console was conceived in 2001, as the Nintendo GameCube was first released. According to an interview with Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, the concept involved focusing on a new form of player interaction, the consensus was that power isnt everything for a console. Too many powerful consoles cant coexist and its like having only ferocious dinosaurs. They might fight and hasten their own extinction, in 2003, game engineers and designers were brought together to develop the concept further. By 2005 the controller interface had taken form, but a showing at that years Electronic Entertainment Expo was canceled. Miyamoto stated that the company had some troubleshooting to do, so we decided not to reveal the controller and instead we displayed just the console. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata later unveiled and demonstrated the Wii Remote at the September Tokyo Game Show, the Nintendo DS is said to have influenced the Wiis design. Designer Kenichiro Ashida noted, We had the DS on our minds as we worked on the Wii and we thought about copying the DSs touch-panel interface and even came up with a prototype. The idea was rejected because of the notion that the two gaming systems would be identical

16.
Xbox 360
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The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the console in the Xbox series. The Xbox 360 competed with Sonys PlayStation 3 and Nintendos Wii as part of the generation of video game consoles. The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12,2005, with detailed launch, the Xbox 360 features an online service, Xbox Live, which was expanded from its previous iteration on the original Xbox and received regular updates during the consoles lifetime. In addition to multimedia features, the Xbox 360 allows users to stream media from local PCs. Several peripherals have been released, including controllers, expanded hard drive storage. The release of additional services and peripherals helped the Xbox brand grow from gaming-only to encompassing all multimedia. Launched worldwide across 2005–2006, the Xbox 360 was initially in short supply in many regions, including North America, the earliest versions of the console suffered from a high failure rate, indicated by the so-called Red Ring of Death, necessitating an extension of the devices warranty period. Microsoft released two redesigned models of the console, the Xbox 360 S in 2010, and the Xbox 360 E in 2013. As of June 2014,84 million Xbox 360 consoles have sold worldwide, making it the sixth-highest-selling video game console in history. The Xbox 360s successor, the Xbox One, was released on November 22,2013, on April 20,2016, Microsoft announced that it would end the production of new Xbox 360 hardware, although the company will continue to support the platform. Known during development as Xbox Next, Xenon, Xbox 2, Xbox FS or NextBox, in February 2003, planning for the Xenon software platform began, and was headed by Microsofts Vice President J Allard. That month, Microsoft held an event for 400 developers in Bellevue, also that month, Peter Moore, former president of Sega of America, joined Microsoft. On August 12,2003, ATI signed on to produce the graphic processing unit for the new console, before the launch of the Xbox 360, several Alpha development kits were spotted using Apples Power Mac G5 hardware. This was because the systems PowerPC970 processor running the same PowerPC architecture that the Xbox 360 would eventually run under IBMs Xenon processor, the cores of the Xenon processor were developed using a slightly modified version of the PlayStation 3s Cell Processor PPE architecture. According to David Shippy and Mickie Phipps, the IBM employees were hiding their work from Sony and Toshiba, jeff Minter created the music visualization program Neon which is included with the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 was released on November 22,2005, in the United States and Canada, December 2,2005, in Europe and December 10,2005, in Japan. It was later launched in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Russia

17.
IOS
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IOS is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the system that presently powers many of the companys mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPad. It is the second most popular operating system globally after Android. IPad tablets are also the second most popular, by sales, originally unveiled in 2007 for the iPhone, iOS has been extended to support other Apple devices such as the iPod Touch and the iPad. As of January 2017, Apples App Store contains more than 2.2 million iOS applications,1 million of which are native for iPads and these mobile apps have collectively been downloaded more than 130 billion times. The iOS user interface is based upon direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures, interface control elements consist of sliders, switches, and buttons. Internal accelerometers are used by applications to respond to shaking the device or rotating it in three dimensions. Apple has been praised for incorporating thorough accessibility functions into iOS, enabling users with vision. Major versions of iOS are released annually, the current version, iOS10, was released on September 13,2016. In iOS, there are four layers, the Core OS, Core Services, Media. In 2005, when Steve Jobs began planning the iPhone, he had a choice to either shrink the Mac, forstall was also responsible for creating a software development kit for programmers to build iPhone apps, as well as an App Store within iTunes. The operating system was unveiled with the iPhone at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 9,2007, and released in June of that year. At the time of its unveiling in January, Steve Jobs claimed, iPhone runs OS X and runs applications, but at the time of the iPhones release. Initially, third-party native applications were not supported, Steve Jobs reasoning was that developers could build web applications through the Safari web browser that would behave like native apps on the iPhone. In October 2007, Apple announced that a native Software Development Kit was under development, on March 6,2008, Apple held a press event, announcing the iPhone SDK. The iOS App Store was opened on July 10,2008 with an initial 500 applications available.2 million in January 2017, as of March 2016,1 million apps are natively compatible with the iPad tablet computer. These apps have collectively been downloaded more than 130 billion times, App intelligence firm Sensor Tower has estimated that the App Store will reach 5 million apps by the year 2020. On September 5,2007, Apple released the iPod Touch, Apple also sold more than one million iPhones during the 2007 holiday season

18.
Mobile phone
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A mobile phone is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area. The radio frequency link establishes a connection to the systems of a mobile phone operator. Most modern mobile telephone services use a network architecture, and, therefore. Mobile phones which offer these and more general computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones, the first handheld mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing c.4.4 lbs. In 1983, the DynaTAC 8000x was the first commercially available mobile phone. From 1983 to 2014, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew to seven billion, penetrating 100% of the global population. In first quarter of 2016, the top smartphone manufacturers were Samsung, Apple, a handheld mobile radio telephone service was envisioned in the early stages of radio engineering. In 1917, Finnish inventor Eric Tigerstedt filed a patent for a pocket-size folding telephone with a thin carbon microphone. Early predecessors of cellular phones included analog radio communications from ships, the race to create truly portable telephone devices began after World War II, with developments taking place in many countries. These 0G systems were not cellular, supported few simultaneous calls, the first handheld mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing c.4.4 lbs. The first commercial automated cellular network was launched in Japan by Nippon Telegraph and this was followed in 1981 by the simultaneous launch of the Nordic Mobile Telephone system in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Several other countries followed in the early to mid-1980s. These first-generation systems could support far more simultaneous calls but still used analog cellular technology, in 1983, the DynaTAC 8000x was the first commercially available handheld mobile phone. In 1991, the digital cellular technology was launched in Finland by Radiolinja on the GSM standard. This sparked competition in the sector as the new operators challenged the incumbent 1G network operators, ten years later, in 2001, the third generation was launched in Japan by NTT DoCoMo on the WCDMA standard. This was followed by 3. 5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G enhancements based on the high-speed packet access family, allowing UMTS networks to have data transfer speeds. By 2009, it had become clear that, at point, 3G networks would be overwhelmed by the growth of bandwidth-intensive applications. Consequently, the industry began looking to data-optimized fourth-generation technologies, with the promise of speed improvements up to ten-fold over existing 3G technologies

19.
N-Gage (service)
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The N-Gage service was a mobile gaming platform from Nokia that was available for several Nokia smartphones running on S60. N-Gage provided numerous games with 3D graphics into an application featuring online and it takes its name from the original 2003 N-Gage gaming device, which it succeeded. Due to memory issues, hinted in an interview in February 2008, support for the Nokia N73, N93, after less than two years on 30 October 2009, Nokia announced that no new N-Gage games would be produced. Some reasons cited for its failure are its bad development model, marketing, a total of 49 games were released for it. Nokia moved its games onto their Ovi Store thereafter, Games can still be played on compatible devices, but the service and online features are no longer functional after it ceased in September 2010. Nokias N-Gage gaming smartphone from 2003 did not perform as well as expected and it was often nicknamed as N-Gage Next Generation by the public. Working behind closed doors, it took a more than a year before, at E32006, finally announcing the N-Gage mobile gaming service. In February 2007, Nokia announced a service in Finland to promote the upcoming service. Nokia showed off previews of the service at the 2007 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, on 27 August 2007, Nokia confirmed a previously leaked N-Gage logo is the official logo for the upcoming service. The N-Gage gaming service in its form was finally announced by Nokia on 29 August 2007. Nokia used the tagline Get out and play to promote the platform and it was supposed to be released in December 2007, but it was delayed as Nokias team were making sure the service ran smoothly. First Access A public beta test of the N-Gage application took place from 4 February 2008 to 27 March 2008 and this period of time was referred to as First Access and only a public test of the client which could be downloaded for free from the N-Gage website. Later in February, Nokia also released Tetris, Block Breaker Deluxe and World Series of Poker, none of the games are entirely free but all offer a limited trial for testing purposes. In order to experience the game it has to be either purchased or rented. Shortly after being released to the public, hackers managed to unpack the N-Gage installation file into components, N-Gage was subsequently reported working on other Nokia Nseries devices, such as N73 and N95. In response, Nokia released an advisory asking users not to install this version as it could cause errors or other issues. This probably has to do with the models being less powerful as was pointed out in an interview earlier the same year whereas an N-Gage representative mentioned some memory issues with the N73. The launch titles also changed from six to five, Asphalt 3, Street Rules, Brain Challenge, Hooked On, Creatures of the Deep, System Rush, Evolution

20.
Nintendo DS
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The Nintendo DS or simply, DS, is a 32-bit dual-screen handheld game console developed and released by Nintendo. The device went on sale in North America on November 21,2004, both screens are encompassed within a clamshell design similar to the Game Boy Advance SP. The Nintendo DS also features the ability for multiple DS consoles to directly interact with each other over Wi-Fi within a short range without the need to connect to a wireless network. Alternatively, they could interact online using the now-closed Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service and its main competitor was Sonys PlayStation Portable as part of the seventh generation era. Prior to its release, the Nintendo DS was marketed as an experimental, third pillar in Nintendos console lineup, meant to complement the Game Boy Advance and GameCube. However, backward compatibility with Game Boy Advance titles and strong sales ultimately established it as the successor to the Game Boy series, on March 2,2006, Nintendo launched the Nintendo DS Lite, a slimmer and lighter redesign of the original Nintendo DS with brighter screens. On November 1,2008, Nintendo released the Nintendo DSi, another redesign with several hardware improvements and new features. All Nintendo DS models combined have sold 154.02 million units, making it the best selling game console to date. The Nintendo DS line was succeeded by the Nintendo 3DS line in 2011, on November 13,2003, Nintendo announced that it would be releasing a new game product in 2004. The company did not provide details, but stated it would not succeed the Game Boy Advance or GameCube. On January 20,2004, the console was announced under the codename Nintendo DS. Nintendo released only a few details at that time, saying that the console would have two separate, 3-inch TFT LCD display panels, separate processors, and up to 1 gigabit of semiconductor memory. He also expressed optimism that the DS would help put Nintendo back at the forefront of innovation, in March 2004, a document containing most of the consoles technical specifications was leaked, also revealing its internal development name, Nitro. In May 2004, the console was shown in prototype form at E32004, on July 28,2004, Nintendo revealed a new design that was described as sleeker and more elegant than the one shown at E3 and announced Nintendo DS as the devices official name. On September 20,2004, Nintendo announced that the Nintendo DS would be released in North America on November 21,2004 for US$149.99. It was set to release on December 2,2004 in Japan, on February 24,2005 in Australia, the console was released in North America with a midnight launch event at Universal CityWalk EB Games in Los Angeles, California. The console was launched quietly in Japan compared to the North America launch, the Nintendo DS was seen by many analysts to be in the same market as Sonys PlayStation Portable, although representatives from both companies have said that each system targets a different audience. At one point, Time magazine awarded the DS a Gadget of the Week award, at the time of its release in the United States, the Nintendo DS retailed for US $149.99

21.
PlayStation Portable
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The PlayStation Portable is a handheld game console developed by Sony. Development of the handheld was announced during E32003, and it was unveiled on May 11,2004, the system was released in Japan on December 12,2004, in North America on March 24,2005, and in the PAL region on September 1,2005. It primarily competed with the Nintendo DS, as part of the generation of video games. The PlayStation Portable became the most powerful system when launched. It was the first real competitor to Nintendos handheld domination, where many challengers, such as SNKs Neo Geo Pocket and Nokias N-Gage and it also features connectivity with the PlayStation 3, other PSPs and the Internet. It is the handheld console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc. The original PSP model was replaced by a model with design changes in 2007. Another remodeling followed in 2008, PSP-3000, which included a new screen, a complete redesign, PSP Go, came in 2009, followed by a budget model, PSP-E1000, in 2011. The PSP line was succeeded by the PlayStation Vita, released in December 2011 in Japan, the PlayStation Vita features backward compatibility with many PlayStation Portable games digitally released on the PlayStation Network, via PlayStation Store. Shipments of the PlayStation Portable ended throughout 2014 worldwide, having sold 80 million units in its 10-year lifetime, Sony first announced development of the PlayStation Portable at a press conference before E32004. Although mock-ups of the system were not present at the conference or E3. Then-CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Jose Villeta called the device the Walkman of the 21st Century in a reference to the multimedia capabilities. Several gaming websites were impressed by the handhelds computing capabilities and looked forward to the potential as a gaming platform. Nintendo had been dominating the market since launching its Game Boy in 1989, with the only close competitor being Segas Game Gear. Later offerings from both SNK and Nokia also failed to cut into Nintendos share, the PSP was called the first legitimate competitor to Nintendo’s dominance in the handheld market by an IDC analyst in 2004. The first concept images of the PSP appeared in November 2002 at the Sony Corporate Strategy Meeting and showed a PSP with flat buttons and no analog stick. Although some expressed concern over the lack of an analog joystick, in addition to announcing more details about the system and its accessories, Sony also released a list of 99 developer companies that had pledged support for the new handheld. Several PSP game demos, such as Konamis Metal Gear Acid and SCE Studio Liverpools Wipeout Pure were also shown at the conference

22.
Microsoft Windows
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Microsoft Windows is a metafamily of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Microsoft. It consists of families of operating systems, each of which cater to a certain sector of the computing industry with the OS typically associated with IBM PC compatible architecture. Active Windows families include Windows NT, Windows Embedded and Windows Phone, defunct Windows families include Windows 9x, Windows 10 Mobile is an active product, unrelated to the defunct family Windows Mobile. Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20,1985, Microsoft Windows came to dominate the worlds personal computer market with over 90% market share, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced in 1984. Apple came to see Windows as an encroachment on their innovation in GUI development as implemented on products such as the Lisa. On PCs, Windows is still the most popular operating system, however, in 2014, Microsoft admitted losing the majority of the overall operating system market to Android, because of the massive growth in sales of Android smartphones. In 2014, the number of Windows devices sold was less than 25% that of Android devices sold and this comparison however may not be fully relevant, as the two operating systems traditionally target different platforms. As of September 2016, the most recent version of Windows for PCs, tablets, smartphones, the most recent versions for server computers is Windows Server 2016. A specialized version of Windows runs on the Xbox One game console, Microsoft, the developer of Windows, has registered several trademarks each of which denote a family of Windows operating systems that target a specific sector of the computing industry. It now consists of three operating system subfamilies that are released almost at the time and share the same kernel. Windows, The operating system for personal computers, tablets. The latest version is Windows 10, the main competitor of this family is macOS by Apple Inc. for personal computers and Android for mobile devices. Windows Server, The operating system for server computers, the latest version is Windows Server 2016. Unlike its clients sibling, it has adopted a strong naming scheme, the main competitor of this family is Linux. Windows PE, A lightweight version of its Windows sibling meant to operate as an operating system, used for installing Windows on bare-metal computers. The latest version is Windows PE10.0.10586.0, Windows Embedded, Initially, Microsoft developed Windows CE as a general-purpose operating system for every device that was too resource-limited to be called a full-fledged computer. The following Windows families are no longer being developed, Windows 9x, Microsoft now caters to the consumers market with Windows NT. Windows Mobile, The predecessor to Windows Phone, it was a mobile operating system

23.
OS X
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Within the market of desktop, laptop and home computers, and by web usage, it is the second most widely used desktop OS after Microsoft Windows. Launched in 2001 as Mac OS X, the series is the latest in the family of Macintosh operating systems, Mac OS X succeeded classic Mac OS, which was introduced in 1984, and the final release of which was Mac OS9 in 1999. An initial, early version of the system, Mac OS X Server 1.0, was released in 1999, the first desktop version, Mac OS X10.0, followed in March 2001. In 2012, Apple rebranded Mac OS X to OS X. Releases were code named after big cats from the release up until OS X10.8 Mountain Lion. Beginning in 2013 with OS X10.9 Mavericks, releases have been named after landmarks in California, in 2016, Apple rebranded OS X to macOS, adopting the nomenclature that it uses for their other operating systems, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. The latest version of macOS is macOS10.12 Sierra, macOS is based on technologies developed at NeXT between 1985 and 1997, when Apple acquired the company. The X in Mac OS X and OS X is pronounced ten, macOS shares its Unix-based core, named Darwin, and many of its frameworks with iOS, tvOS and watchOS. A heavily modified version of Mac OS X10.4 Tiger was used for the first-generation Apple TV, Apple also used to have a separate line of releases of Mac OS X designed for servers. Beginning with Mac OS X10.7 Lion, the functions were made available as a separate package on the Mac App Store. Releases of Mac OS X from 1999 to 2005 can run only on the PowerPC-based Macs from the time period, Mac OS X10.5 Leopard was released as a Universal binary, meaning the installer disc supported both Intel and PowerPC processors. In 2009, Apple released Mac OS X10.6 Snow Leopard, in 2011, Apple released Mac OS X10.7 Lion, which no longer supported 32-bit Intel processors and also did not include Rosetta. All versions of the system released since then run exclusively on 64-bit Intel CPUs, the heritage of what would become macOS had originated at NeXT, a company founded by Steve Jobs following his departure from Apple in 1985. There, the Unix-like NeXTSTEP operating system was developed, and then launched in 1989 and its graphical user interface was built on top of an object-oriented GUI toolkit using the Objective-C programming language. This led Apple to purchase NeXT in 1996, allowing NeXTSTEP, then called OPENSTEP, previous Macintosh operating systems were named using Arabic numerals, e. g. Mac OS8 and Mac OS9. The letter X in Mac OS Xs name refers to the number 10 and it is therefore correctly pronounced ten /ˈtɛn/ in this context. However, a common mispronunciation is X /ˈɛks/, consumer releases of Mac OS X included more backward compatibility. Mac OS applications could be rewritten to run natively via the Carbon API, the consumer version of Mac OS X was launched in 2001 with Mac OS X10.0. Reviews were variable, with praise for its sophisticated, glossy Aqua interface

24.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands

25.
Australasia
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Australasia, a region of Oceania, comprises Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. Charles de Brosses coined the term in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes and he derived it from the Latin for south of Asia and differentiated the area from Polynesia and the southeast Pacific. The bulk of Australasia sits on the Indo-Australian Plate, together with India, physiographically, Australasia includes New Zealand, Australia, and Melanesia, New Guinea and neighbouring islands north and east of Australia in the Pacific Ocean. The designation is applied to all the lands and islands of the Pacific Ocean lying between the equator and latitude 47° south. Most of Australasia lies on the portion of the Indo-Australian Plate, flanked by the Indian Ocean to the west. Sometimes the term encompasses the island of New Guinea. Many organisations whose names include the prefix Australasian Society of, limit their scope of operation to just Australia and New Zealand. In the past, Australasia has been used as a name for combined Australia/New Zealand sporting teams, examples include tennis between 1905 and 1915, when New Zealand and Australia combined to compete in the Davis Cup international tournament, and at the Olympic Games of 1908 and 1912. From an ecological perspective the Australasia ecozone forms a region with a common geologic and evolutionary history. In this context, Australasia is limited to Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, New Caledonia, the Wallace Line marks the biological divide from the Indomalaya ecozone of tropical Asia – Borneo and Bali lie on the western, Asian side. These three land masses have been separated from other continents, and from one another, for millions of years, all of Australasia shares the Antarctic flora, although the northern, tropical islands also share many plants with Southeast Asia. Mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania are separated from one another by shallow continental shelves and they share a similar fauna which includes marsupial and monotreme mammals and ratite birds. Eucalypts are the predominant trees in much of Australia and New Guinea, New Zealand has no extant native land mammals aside from bats, but also had ratite birds, including the kiwi and the extinct moa. Media related to Australasia at Wikimedia Commons

26.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa

27.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon

28.
Action-adventure game
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The action-adventure video game genre includes video games that combine core elements from the action and adventure genres. With the decline of the game genre from mainstream popularity. It is not uncommon for gamers to apply the term adventure or action adventure to describe the genre of fiction to which a game belongs, typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve, with very little or no action. If there is action, it is confined to isolated minigames. Pure action games have gameplay based on real-time interactions that challenge the reflexes, therefore, action-adventure games engage both reflexes and problem-solving, in both violent and non-violent situations. An action-adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements from an action game and an adventure game, especially crucial elements like puzzles. Action-adventures require many of the physical skills as action games, but also offer a storyline, numerous characters, an inventory system, dialogue. They are faster-paced than pure adventure games, because they include both physical and conceptual challenges, action-adventure games normally include a combination of complex story elements, which are displayed for players using audio and video. The story is heavily reliant upon the characters movement, which triggers story events. Some examples of games include The Legend of Zelda, God of War. Exactly when a game stops being a game and becomes an action game is a matter of interpretation. There are quite a few disagreements in the community and in the media over what constitutes an action-adventure game. In some cases a game with puzzles will be classified as an action-adventure game. Others see action games as a genre, while an action-adventure is an action game that includes situational problem-solving. Adventure gamers may also be purists, rejecting any game that makes use of physical challenges or time pressure, regardless, the action-adventure label is prominent in articles over the internet and media. The term action-adventure is usually substituted for a particular subgenre due to its wide scope, although action-adventure games are diverse and difficult to classify, there are some distinct subgenres. These are sometimes called Real-Time Adventure games or RTAs for short, notable examples of this include Metroid Prime, Half-Life 2, Dishonored, and Far Cry 3. Third-person action-adventure, in gameplay is in the third-person

29.
Video game
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A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor. The word video in video game referred to a raster display device. Some theorists categorize video games as an art form, but this designation is controversial, the electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms, examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld computing devices, the input device used for games, the game controller, varies across platforms. Common controllers include gamepads, joysticks, mouse devices, keyboards, the touchscreens of mobile devices, and buttons, or even, with the Kinect sensor, a persons hands and body. Players typically view the game on a screen or television or computer monitor, or sometimes on virtual reality head-mounted display goggles. There are often game sound effects, music and, in the 2010s, some games in the 2000s include haptic, vibration-creating effects, force feedback peripherals and virtual reality headsets. In the 2010s, the game industry is of increasing commercial importance, with growth driven particularly by the emerging Asian markets and mobile games. As of 2015, video games generated sales of USD74 billion annually worldwide, early games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example is from 1947—a Cathode ray tube Amusement Device was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, and issued on 14 December 1948, as U. S. Written by MIT students Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanens on a DEC PDP-1 computer in 1961, and the hit ping pong-style Pong, used the DEC PDP-1s vector display to have two spaceships battle each other. In 1971, Computer Space, created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was the first commercially sold and it used a black-and-white television for its display, and the computer system was made of 74 series TTL chips. The game was featured in the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green, Computer Space was followed in 1972 by the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home console. Modeled after a late 1960s prototype console developed by Ralph H. Baer called the Brown Box and these were followed by two versions of Ataris Pong, an arcade version in 1972 and a home version in 1975 that dramatically increased video game popularity. The commercial success of Pong led numerous other companies to develop Pong clones and their own systems, the game inspired arcade machines to become prevalent in mainstream locations such as shopping malls, traditional storefronts, restaurants, and convenience stores. The game also became the subject of articles and stories on television and in newspapers and magazines. Space Invaders was soon licensed for the Atari VCS, becoming the first killer app, the term platform refers to the specific combination of electronic components or computer hardware which, in conjunction with software, allows a video game to operate. The term system is commonly used

30.
N-Gage (device)
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The N-Gage is a smartphone and handheld game system from Nokia, announced on 4 November 2002 and released on 7 October 2003. It runs the original Series 60 platform on Symbian OS v6.1 and its original development codename was Starship. N-Gage attempted to lure away from the Game Boy Advance by including mobile phone functionality. Nokia introduced the N-Gage QD in 2004 as a redesign of the original Classic N-Gage, fixing widely criticized issues, the N-Gage was discontinued in November 2005, with Nokia moving its gaming capabilities onto selected Series 60 smartphones. This was announced as the N-Gage platform or N-Gage 2.0 in 2007, around 2000, gamers increasingly carried both mobile phones and handheld game consoles. Nokia spotted an opportunity to combine these devices into one unit, Nokia announced in November 2002 that they would develop the N-Gage, a device that integrated these two devices. Instead of using cables, multiplayer gaming was accomplished with Bluetooth or the Internet, the N-Gage also included MP3 and Real Audio/Video playback and PDA-like features into the system. With a launch price of US$299, the N-Gage was not commercially popular, in its first weeks of availability in the United States, it was outsold by the Game Boy Advance 100 to 1. Within 17 days of the release, popular retailers GameStop. Besides its gaming capabilities, the N-Gage was a Series 60 smartphone, running Symbian OS6.1 and it was able to run all Series 60 software, and Java MIDP applications as well. Its main CPU was an ARM Integrated compatible chip running at 104 MHz, as of August 2007, it was estimated that Nokia had shipped more than two million N-Gage game decks. Many gamers were unaware of the later QD redesign, Nokia had more than 50 games available for the system. While the N-Gage did not have any significant financial successes, it did have a handful of critical successes, pocket Kingdom, Own the World received a handful of glowing reviews when it was released, and Pathway to Glory was Nokias first self-published success. These games came perhaps too late to have effect in improving the perception of the N-Gage hardware itself in the eyes of consumers or press. In February 2004, with the N-Gage failing to make a major impact four months on, in January 2005, UK sales-tracking firm ChartTrack dropped the N-Gage from its regular ELSPA chart, commenting that The N-Gage chart, though still produced, is of little interest to anyone. Sales of the machine and its software have failed to make any impact on the market at all, although only directly reflective of the UK market, this was interpreted by some as a serious blow to the N-Gage as a viable gaming platform. Despite this, Nokia reaffirmed their commitment to the N-Gage as a platform, February 2005 saw Nokia appoint Gerard Wiener, formerly of Sega Europe, to the post of Director and General Manager for Games at Nokia. Wiener steered Nokia away from looking at the N-Gage as primarily being a console to this is a mobile phone that is great for playing games on

31.
Mac OS
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The family of Macintosh operating systems developed by Apple Inc. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the Classic Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded Mac OS in 1996, was preinstalled on every Macintosh until 2002, noted for its ease of use, it was also criticized for its lack of modern technologies compared to its competitors. The current Mac operating system is macOS, originally named Mac OS X until 2012, the current macOS is preinstalled with every Mac and is updated annually. It is the basis of Apples current system software for its devices, iOS, watchOS. Apples effort to expand upon and develop a replacement for its classic Mac OS in the 1990s led to a few cancelled projects, code named Star Trek, Taligent, the Macintosh is credited with having popularized this concept. The classic Mac OS is the original Macintosh operating system that was introduced in 1984 alongside the first Macintosh and remained in primary use on Macs through 2001. Apple released the original Macintosh on January 24,1984, its system software was partially based on the Lisa OS and the Xerox PARC Alto computer. It was originally named System Software, or simply System, Apple rebranded it as Mac OS in 1996 due in part to its Macintosh clone program that ended a year later, Mac OS is characterized by its monolithic system. Nine major versions of the classic Mac OS were released, the name Classic that now signifies the system as a whole is a reference to a compatibility layer that helped ease the transition to Mac OS X. Although the system was marketed as simply version 10 of Mac OS. Precursors to the release of Mac OS X include OpenStep, Apples Rhapsody project. MacOS makes use of the BSD codebase and the XNU kernel, the first desktop version of the system was released on March 24,2001, supporting the Aqua user interface. Since then, several more versions adding newer features and technologies have been released, since 2011, new releases have been offered on an annual basis. It was followed by several more official server-based releases, server functionality has instead been offered as an add-on for the desktop system since 2011. The first version of the system was ready for use in February 1988, in 1988, Apple released its first Unix-based OS, A/UX, which was a Unix operating system with the Mac OS look and feel. It was not very competitive for its time, due in part to the crowded Unix market, A/UX had most of its success in sales to the U. S. government, where POSIX compliance was a requirement that Mac OS could not meet. The Macintosh Application Environment was a software package introduced by Apple in 1994 that allowed users of certain Unix-based computer workstations to run Apple Macintosh application software, MAE used the X Window System to emulate a Macintosh Finder-style graphical user interface

32.
Star Wars
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Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise, centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of characters a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The franchise began in 1977 with the release of the film Star Wars and it was followed by the successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, these three films constitute the original Star Wars trilogy. A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005, which received mixed-to-negative reactions, a sequel trilogy began in 2015 with the release of Star Wars, The Force Awakens. All seven films were nominated for Academy Awards and have been successes, with a combined box office revenue of over $7.5 billion. Spin-off films include Star Wars, The Clone Wars and Rogue One, Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the Most successful film merchandising franchise. In 2015, the value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $42 billion. In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion and earned the rights to all subsequent Star Wars films. Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films, the events depicted in the Star Wars franchise take place in an unnamed fictional galaxy at an undetermined point in the distant past. Many species of creatures are depicted. Robotic droids are also commonplace and are built to serve their owners. Space travel is common, and many planets in the galaxy are members of a single galactic government. In the prequel trilogy, this is depicted in the form of the Galactic Republic, at the end of the trilogy and throughout the original trilogy. Preceding and during the trilogy, this government is the New Republic. One of the prominent elements of Star Wars is the Force and it is described in the first produced film as an energy field created by all living things surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together. While the Force can be used for good, known as the side, it also has a dark side that, when pursued, imbues users with hatred, aggression. The sequel trilogy introduces the Knights of Ren, an order of practitioners of the side of the Force aligned with the First Order. The first film in the series, Star Wars, was released on May 25,1977 and this was followed by two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21,1980, and Return of the Jedi, released on May 25,1983

33.
Rebel Alliance
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The Alliance to Restore the Republic is an interstellar revolutionary faction in the fictional universe of Star Wars. Their goal was to seize the Alliance forces, the Rebel Alliance was first featured as the main protagonist-faction in the 1977 film Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The origins of the Alliance to Restore the Republic are told during the events of Revenge of the Sith, the group included Bail Organa, Padmé Amidala, and Mon Mothma, amongst others. Amidala was, at the time, the most famous and prominent of the group and she realized that this made her a target and later advised the others to go quiet in their dissent and exclude her from any future proceedings. The young senator died in premature childbirth not long after her attempt to prevent Anakin Skywalkers fall. The show focuses on a group of rebels that band together aboard a freighter starship called Ghost. By the end of the first season, it is revealed there are various cells that are resisting the Empire. Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan and former Jedi Ahsoka Tano both play a role in coordinating them, during the events of Rogue One and the original Star Wars, the Alliance learns of the construction of the Death Star, an enormous battle station intended to secure the Empires power. With the help of the Rogue One squad led by Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, right after the battle, the Tantive IV, an Alderaanian cruiser carrying Princess Leia is captured by the Imperial fleet while attempting to deliver the Death Star Plans to Bail Organa on Alderaan. The Princess is subsequently rescued by Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Obi-Wan Kenobi and this leads directly to the Alliances victory in the Battle of Yavin and the loyalty of Luke Skywalker, the Rebellions only remaining member with training in the Force. In The Empire Strikes Back, the Alliance suffers a defeat on Hoth when one of their main command centers. The remaining forces of the Rebellion are forced to stay mobile, using Admiral Ackbars flagship, Home One, by Return of the Jedi, the Rebel Alliance has regrouped and learned that a new Death Star is being constructed, and will be completed under Emperor Palpatines personal supervision. Mon Mothma has Admiral Ackbar and Lando Calrissian command the Alliance fleet and dispatches Han Solo and Princess Leia to disable the stations defenses, the Alliance subsequently wins the Battle of Endor, in which Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, and much of the Imperial hierarchy are destroyed. Thus, the Empire is essentially defeated, and the Rebellion liberates most of the galaxy, by The Force Awakens, the New Republic has formed from the Rebellion. The Resistance, an army backed up by the New Republic and successor of the Alliance, is formed to stand against the First Order, a new military power formed by remnants from the Old Empire. The incident begins when an Imperial military cruiser commanded by Captain Wilhuff Tarkin is blocked by peaceful anti-Empire protesters who refuse to move off the landing pad. With implied permission from the Emperor, Tarkin lands the ship anyway, injuring and killing many, the myriad of civilizations which are fighting the Empire continue to grow in number and progressively coalesce into a ragtag organization known as the Resistance. They intend upon removing the evil Emperor, but the growing ruthlessness of the Imperial state forces them into secrecy and these Rebel starfighters were equipped with hyperdrive capability along prearranged routes which would allow this kind of harassment and escape before the Empire may react

34.
Galactic Civil War
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The Galactic Civil War is a fictional interstellar war from the Star Wars galaxy. Within the Star Wars narrative, the war was fought between the Galactic Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic. In Rogue One, the war officially begun when a group of soldiers led by Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor. The rebel team successfully transmitted the plans to the Alliance, in A New Hope, Darth Vader boarded the ship that had the Death Star plans and captured Princess Leia. C-3PO and R2-D2 escaped with the plans and a message to Obi-Wan Kenobi and they land on Tatooine, where Luke Skywalker purchases them and discovers the message. R2 goes to search for Kenobi, and Luke follows him, Kenobi rescues him and he and Luke decide to oppose the Empire after Lukes family was killed. They teamed up with 3PO, R2, Chewbacca, and Han Solo to rescue Leia and they rescue Leia, but Kenobi was killed by Vader in a lightsaber duel. They escape to the rebels, where they assault the Death Star, with help from Solo and Kenobis spirit, Luke destroys the Death Star. In The Empire Strikes Back, the rebels had driven from their base on Yavin IV. Darth Vader dispatched probe droids across the galaxy, a probe droid landed on Hoth, and captured footage of the base, before Han Solo and Chewbacca destroyed it. The Imperial Fleet attacked the base using walkers, and drove the rebels out of the base, Vader swore to the Emperor to capture Luke Skywalker, who was doing Jedi training on Dagobah with Yoda. Vader pursued Han Solo across the galaxy, captured him and his friends, but, Lando Calrissian helped Solos friends escape, as Luke came to confront Vader. He lost the resulting lightsaber duel and shockingly found out from Vader that he was his father, in Return of the Jedi, the Imperial and Alliance fleets clashed as the second Death Star finished construction. Solo, who had rescued from Jabba the Hutt and Boba Fett. Meanwhile, Luke surrendered himself to Vader and the Emperor, Darth Sidious, the rebels on Endor blew up a shield generator, allowing the Alliance fleet to assault the Death Star. Meanwhile, Luke re-armed himself with his lightsaber and faced Vader in a duel, then, he declared himself a Jedi, discarding his lightsaber. Then, he died, and Luke escaped, just as Lando and Wedge Antilles blew up the Death Star, material associated with the film The Force Awakens reveals additional details of the war and its aftermath taking place between the sixth and seventh episodes. The Empire continued to fight the Rebellion/New Republic forces for some time before suffering a crippling defeat at the Battle of Jakku

35.
Starkiller
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The characters name is taken from Luke Skywalkers original name Annikin Starkiller. IGN called Starkillers story nice and complete, Game Informer, UGO Networks and GameDaily also gave good reviews. However, GamesRadar has criticized Starkillers design, in GameSpots vote for the greatest video game character of all time, Starkiller was eliminated in round 1 against Niko Bellic. George Lucas motivated the team working on Star Wars, The Force Unleashed to make a brand-new character, before deciding on Starkillers character, other ideas for the main character included a Han Solo-like smuggler, a superheroic Rebel Wookiee, the last Skywalker and a gadget-wielding mercenary. The developers used feedback from focus test respondents and executives at LucasArts in order to make Starkiller. The developers consciously decided not to him a name in the game. Starkiller was designed as Luke Skywalkers photo-negative, and is named after Annikin Starkiller, the developers tried to avoid making Starkiller too rigidly defined while keeping the character developed. In order to avoid the character being over emotional, they tried to let short pieces of dialogue and they attempted to make Starkiller feel like he would belong in the classic Star Wars trilogy by making his actions faster and more intense. During an interview to Haden Blackman by The Guardian, he claimed that most of the players wanted the character to be ultimately redeemed by the end of the game. Starkiller was voiced by and given the likeness of Samuel Witwer, according to Blackman, the staff were very hard on Witwer when casting him, but claimed he was far above the other candidates and that he was already inhabiting the mind of this character. Blackman noted that Witwer brought new ideas and a sense of humanity to Starkiller, Sam Witwer has said that Starkiller would be a character he wouldnt mind revisiting. During the concepting stages of Star Wars, The Force Unleashed II, Blackman commented that after deciding how to have Starkiller return, he felt it all made sense and fell into place. Developers tried to make The Force Unleashed more personal to Starkiller, according to Witwer, Starkillers characteristics and personality depended on who he was talking to and what circumstances he is in. Witwer called him an interesting guy, speaking of layered characters. Although acting as a villain in the beginning of the first game, Haden Blackman noted that in the first Starkiller was a hunter, while in the second Starkiller is more a fugitive. Matt Filbrandt, one of the producers of The Force Unleashed II, said that the Starkiller in the game is trying to find out who he is. Starkiller debuted in Soulcalibur IV as a fighter, alongside Darth Vader, in Soulcalibur IV he is known as the Apprentice. After Vader sends him to investigate a dimensional rift that seems to be growing, the Apprentice defeats Algol and returns to Vader without either the Soul Edge or the Soul Calibur, due to perceiving them as worthless

36.
Darth Vader
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Darth Vader, also known by his birth name Anakin Skywalker, is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. The character was created by George Lucas and has been portrayed by numerous actors and his appearances span the first six Star Wars films, as well as Rogue One, and his character is heavily referenced in Star Wars, The Force Awakens. He is also an important character in the Star Wars expanded universe of television series, video games, novels, literature and comic books. Originally a Jedi prophesied to bring balance to the Force, he falls to the side of the Force and serves the evil Galactic Empire at the right hand of his Sith master. He is also the father of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa, grandfather of Kylo Ren, Darth Vader has become one of the most iconic villains in popular culture, and has been listed among the greatest villains and fictional characters ever. The American Film Institute listed him as the third greatest movie villain in history on 100 Years. 100 Heroes and Villains, behind Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates, however, other critics consider him a tragic hero, citing his original motivations for the greater good before his fall to the dark side. After the success of the original Star Wars, series creator George Lucas hired science fiction author Leigh Brackett to write the sequel with him and they held story conferences and, by late November 1977, Lucas had produced a handwritten treatment. The treatment is similar to the film, except that Vader does not reveal he is Lukes father. In the first draft that Brackett would write from this, Lukes father appears as a ghost to instruct Luke, Lucas was disappointed with the script, but Brackett died of cancer before he could discuss it with her. With no writer available, Lucas had to write the next draft himself, in this draft, he made use of a new plot twist, Vader claiming to be Lukes father. According to Lucas, he found this draft enjoyable to write, the new plot element of Lukes parentage had drastic effects on the series. Anakin battled Kenobi on the site of a volcano and was badly wounded, meanwhile, Kenobi hid Luke on Tatooine while the Galactic Republic became the tyrannical Galactic Empire and Vader systematically hunted down and killed the Jedi. This change in character would provide a springboard to the Tragedy of Darth Vader storyline that underlies the prequel trilogy, after deciding to create the prequel trilogy, Lucas indicated the series would be a tragic one depicting Anakins fall to the dark side. He also saw that the prequels could form the beginning of one story that started with Anakins childhood. This was the step towards turning the film series into a saga. For the first prequel, Star Wars, Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Movie trailers focused on Anakin and a one-sheet poster showing him casting Vaders shadow informed otherwise unknowing audiences of the characters eventual fate. The movie ultimately achieved a goal of introducing audiences to Anakin

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (project)
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Star Wars, The Force Unleashed is a multimedia project developed by LucasArts along with Dark Horse Comics, Lego, Hasbro, and Del Rey Books. Set between Star Wars, Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars, the story explores the aftermath of the Great Jedi Purge as well as the rise of Darth Vader. Ultimately, Starkiller sacrifices his life t

1.
Contents

LucasArts
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LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game publisher and licensor. Until 2013, it was also a game developer. LucasArts is best known for its graphic adventure games, as well as based on the Star Wars. Its headquarters are located in San Francisco, California and it was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as Lucasfilm Games, the

1.
The "Gold Guy" LucasArts logo (1991–2005)

2.
Logo from 2005 to present

Krome Studios
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Krome Studios Pty Ltd. is an Australian video game company. Its headquarters were in Brisbane and it previously had offices in Adelaide, Krome Studios is best known for their Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games and for their reboot of the Spyro the Dragon franchise. The company was founded in 1999 by Robert Walsh, who is the current CEO, Steve Stamatiadis

1.
Krome Studios

Universomo
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Universomo Ltd. was a Finnish video game developer based in Tampere, Finland. It was founded in 2002, and acquired by THQ on May 9,2007, Universomo also has offices in Helsinki, Finland and San Diego, United States. Universomo is focused on games for mobile phones, the iPhone, on January 12,2010 THQ announced a Nintendo DS game Beat City developed

1.
Universomo

Aspyr Media
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Aspyr Media, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. Established in 1996, the company specializes in porting video games from Microsoft Windows to macOS, popular franchises ported under Aspyrs banner include Call of Duty, Civilization, Star Wars, The Sims 2 and Borderlands. By 2003, Aspyr owned 60 percent of the Mac enterta

1.
The 2005-present logo

THQ
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THQ was an American video game developer and publisher. Founded in 1989, the company developed products for video game consoles and handhelds, personal computers. Its name derived from Toy Headquarters during its time as a toy manufacturer in the early 1990s, THQ had offices in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The company publishe

1.
THQ's logo from 1997-2000

2.
THQ logo, 2011-2013

Activision
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Activision Publishing, Inc. also known as Activision, is an American video game publisher. It was founded on October 1,1979 and was the worlds first independent developer and its first products were cartridges for the Atari 2600 video console system published from July 1980 for the US market and from August 1981 for the international market. As of

Haden Blackman
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W. Haden Blackman is an American writer and video game designer. As a child, Blackman would read comic books during long road trips and he wrote a book called “The Field Guide to North American Monsters, Everything You Need to Know About Encountering Over 100 Terrifying Creatures in the Wild. He also wrote another book called The Field Guide to Nor

1.
Haden Blackman

Video game programmer
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A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which fall under the term of game programmer. A game programmer should not be confused with a game designer, in th

1.
The Apple II series was a popular video game platform during the early home computer era. Despite being outperformed by later systems, it remained popular until the early 1990s.

2.
The joystick was the primary input device for 1980s era games. Now game programmers must account for a wide range of input devices, but the joystick today is supported in relatively few games, though still dominant for flight simulators.

Video game music
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Video game music is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was limited to simple melodies of early sound synthesizer technology. With advances in technology, video game music has now grown to include the same breadth and complexity associated with television and film scores, while simple synthesizer pieces are still com

Game engine
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A game engine is a software framework designed for the creation and development of video games. Developers use them to games for consoles, mobile devices. The process of development is often economized, in large part, by reusing/adapting the same game engine to create different games. In many cases game engines provide a suite of development tools

1.
Creating a racing game in Blender Game Engine

Computing platform
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Computing platform means in general sense, where any piece of software is executed. It may be the hardware or the system, even a web browser or other application. The term computing platform can refer to different abstraction levels, including a hardware architecture, an operating system. In total it can be said to be the stage on which programs ca

1.
Android, a popular mobile operating system

PlayStation 2
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The PlayStation 2 is a home video game console that was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the successor to the PlayStation, and is the installment in the PlayStation lineup of consoles. It was released on March 4,2000 in Japan, October 26,2000 in North America, November 24,2000 in Europe and it competed with Segas Dreamcast, Microsoft

1.
The PS2's controller, the DualShock 2, had the same form factor as the PlayStation DualShock.

PlayStation 3
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The PlayStation 3 is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the successor to PlayStation 2, and is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles and it was first released on November 11,2006, in Japan, November 17,2006, in North America, and March 23,2007, in Europe and Australia. The PlayStation 3 mainly competes aga

1.
Silver PlayStation 3 consoles on show in 2006

3.
120 GB Slim model

4.
The PS3 Super Slim model, released in 2012

Wii
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The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19,2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii competed with Microsofts Xbox 360, Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others. The Wii introduced the Wii Remote controller, which can be used as a pointing device. Another notable f

1.
Wii retail display boxes

2.
Original Wii console with Wii Remote

3.
The Wii (top) compared in size to the GCN (GameCube), N64, North American SNES and NES

4.
A Nunchuk, Wii Remote and strap shown in hand

Xbox 360
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The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the console in the Xbox series. The Xbox 360 competed with Sonys PlayStation 3 and Nintendos Wii as part of the generation of video game consoles. The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12,2005, with detailed launch, the Xbox 3

3.
Xbox 360 Pro

4.
Xbox 360 Arcade

IOS
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IOS is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the system that presently powers many of the companys mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPad. It is the second most popular operating system globally after Android. IPad tablets are also the second most popular, by sales, originally unveiled

Mobile phone
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A mobile phone is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area. The radio frequency link establishes a connection to the systems of a mobile phone operator. Most modern mobile telephone services use a network architecture, and, therefore. Mobile phones whic

1.
Evolution of mobile phones, through early smartphone

2.
Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first publicized handheld mobile phone call on a prototype DynaTAC model on April 4, 1973. This is a reenactment in 2007.

N-Gage (service)
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The N-Gage service was a mobile gaming platform from Nokia that was available for several Nokia smartphones running on S60. N-Gage provided numerous games with 3D graphics into an application featuring online and it takes its name from the original 2003 N-Gage gaming device, which it succeeded. Due to memory issues, hinted in an interview in Februa

1.
N-Gage

2.
An official promotional image during the 29 August 2007 announcement: The N-Gage application home screen (right) and a game being played (left) on a Nokia N81.

3.
The application home screen on a Nokia N78

Nintendo DS
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The Nintendo DS or simply, DS, is a 32-bit dual-screen handheld game console developed and released by Nintendo. The device went on sale in North America on November 21,2004, both screens are encompassed within a clamshell design similar to the Game Boy Advance SP. The Nintendo DS also features the ability for multiple DS consoles to directly inter

PlayStation Portable
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The PlayStation Portable is a handheld game console developed by Sony. Development of the handheld was announced during E32003, and it was unveiled on May 11,2004, the system was released in Japan on December 12,2004, in North America on March 24,2005, and in the PAL region on September 1,2005. It primarily competed with the Nintendo DS, as part of

1.
Original model (PSP-1000) and logo of the PSP.

2.
The main CPU, PSP Media Engine and the NAND flash for the System Software (TA-079)

3.
The Wi-Fi Module with the Serial and Headphone Jack (TA-079)

Microsoft Windows
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Microsoft Windows is a metafamily of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Microsoft. It consists of families of operating systems, each of which cater to a certain sector of the computing industry with the OS typically associated with IBM PC compatible architecture. Active Windows families include Windows NT, Windows Embedde

1.
Screenshot of Windows 10, showing the Action Center and Start Menu

OS X
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Within the market of desktop, laptop and home computers, and by web usage, it is the second most widely used desktop OS after Microsoft Windows. Launched in 2001 as Mac OS X, the series is the latest in the family of Macintosh operating systems, Mac OS X succeeded classic Mac OS, which was introduced in 1984, and the final release of which was Mac

1.
Steve Jobs talks about the transition to Intel processors

2.
OS X El Capitan

3.
Mac OS X Lion was announced at WWDC 2011 at Moscone West.

North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Car

1.
Map of North America, from 1621.

2.
North America

3.
The El Castillo pyramid, at Chichén Itzá, Mexico.

4.
Benjamin West 's The Death of General Wolfe (1771) depicting the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.

Australasia
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Australasia, a region of Oceania, comprises Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. Charles de Brosses coined the term in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes and he derived it from the Latin for south of Asia and differentiated the area from Polynesia and the southeast Pacific. The

1.
Wallace Line separates Australasian and Southeast Asian fauna.

2.
Australasia

3.
Aoraki / Mount Cook in the Southern Alps of New Zealand

Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europ

1.
Reconstruction of Herodotus ' world map

3.
A medieval T and O map from 1472 showing the three continents as domains of the sons of Noah — Asia to Sem (Shem), Europe to Iafeth (Japheth), and Africa to Cham (Ham)

4.
Early modern depiction of Europa regina ('Queen Europe') and the mythical Europa of the 8th century BC.

Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referr

1.
The Golden Hall and five-storey pagoda of Hōryū-ji, among the oldest wooden buildings in the world, National Treasures, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site

3.
Samurai warriors face Mongols, during the Mongol invasions of Japan. The Kamikaze, two storms, are said to have saved Japan from Mongol fleets.

4.
Samurai could kill a commoner for the slightest insult and were widely feared by the Japanese population. Edo period, 1798

Action-adventure game
–
The action-adventure video game genre includes video games that combine core elements from the action and adventure genres. With the decline of the game genre from mainstream popularity. It is not uncommon for gamers to apply the term adventure or action adventure to describe the genre of fiction to which a game belongs, typically, pure adventure g

1.
The Legend of Zelda (1986), a seminal title that established the action-adventure game genre.

Video game
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A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor. The word video in video game referred to a raster display device. Some theorists categorize video games as an art form, but this designation is controversial, the electronic system

1.
Two girls playing a driving-themed video arcade game in 2007.

2.
Tennis for Two, an early analog computer game that used an oscilloscope for a display

3.
Nolan Bushnell at the Game Developers Conference in 2011

N-Gage (device)
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The N-Gage is a smartphone and handheld game system from Nokia, announced on 4 November 2002 and released on 7 October 2003. It runs the original Series 60 platform on Symbian OS v6.1 and its original development codename was Starship. N-Gage attempted to lure away from the Game Boy Advance by including mobile phone functionality. Nokia introduced

2.
The N-Gage QD

Mac OS
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The family of Macintosh operating systems developed by Apple Inc. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the Classic Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded Mac OS in 1996, was preinstalled on every Macintosh until 2002, noted for its ease of use, it was also criticized for

1.
Screenshot of OS X v10.11 El Capitan

Star Wars
–
Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise, centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of characters a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The franchise began in 1977 with the release of the film Star Wars and it was followed by the successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, th

1.
A street performer in costume as Darth Vader in Amsterdam. Vader is one of the most iconic characters of the Star Wars franchise.

2.
The Star Wars logo as seen in all films

3.
George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars

4.
John Williams, composer of the musical scores for all six films of the original and prequel trilogies.

Rebel Alliance
–
The Alliance to Restore the Republic is an interstellar revolutionary faction in the fictional universe of Star Wars. Their goal was to seize the Alliance forces, the Rebel Alliance was first featured as the main protagonist-faction in the 1977 film Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The origins of the Alliance to Restore th

1.
Emblem of the Rebel Alliance

Galactic Civil War
–
The Galactic Civil War is a fictional interstellar war from the Star Wars galaxy. Within the Star Wars narrative, the war was fought between the Galactic Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic. In Rogue One, the war officially begun when a group of soldiers led by Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor. The rebel team successfully transmitted the plan

1.
Fictional civil war in the Star Wars saga, photo depicting the Battle of Yavin with Rebel X-wing starfighters approaching the Imperial Death Star battle station.

Starkiller
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The characters name is taken from Luke Skywalkers original name Annikin Starkiller. IGN called Starkillers story nice and complete, Game Informer, UGO Networks and GameDaily also gave good reviews. However, GamesRadar has criticized Starkillers design, in GameSpots vote for the greatest video game character of all time, Starkiller was eliminated in

1.
Samuel Witwer provides both the voice and the likeness for Starkiller's character.

2.
Starkiller in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008).

3.
In the dark side ending of The Force Unleashed, Starkiller is made the Emperor's apprentice. This redesign was reused in the Ultimate Sith Edition of the game. GamesRadar criticised the design for being just "Vader with Boba Fett 's helmet".

Darth Vader
–
Darth Vader, also known by his birth name Anakin Skywalker, is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. The character was created by George Lucas and has been portrayed by numerous actors and his appearances span the first six Star Wars films, as well as Rogue One, and his character is heavily referenced in Star Wars, The Force Awakens. He

1.
The prototype x-y mutual capacitance touchscreen (left) developed at CERN in 1977 by Bent Stumpe, a Danish electronics engineer, for the control room of CERN’s accelerator SPS (Super Proton Synchrotron). This was a further development of the self-capacitance screen (right), also developed by Stumpe at CERN in 1972.

2.
Capacitive touchscreen of a mobile phone

3.
Back side of a Multitouch Globe, based on Projected Capacitive Touch (PCT) technology

4.
Infrared sensors mounted around the display watch for a user's touchscreen input on this PLATO V terminal in 1981. The monochromatic plasma display's characteristic orange glow is illustrated.

3.
Anthony Daniels (pictured here in 2005) was convinced to take the role of the droid C-3PO after seeing a design drawing of the character's face

4.
George Lucas, the director and writer of Star Wars, shown here in 2007. He was unsuccessful in pitching his idea to several major Hollywood studios because it was "a little strange". Eventually, Lucas presented the treatment to 20th Century Fox, and the film was approved.

2.
Charles Darrow 's 1935 patent for Monopoly includes specific design elements developed during the prototype phase. Prototypes are very common in the later stages of board game design, and "prototype circles" in many cities today provide an opportunity for designers to play and critique each other's games.

3.
All casino games are designed to mathematically favor the house. The house edge for a slot machine can range widely between 2 and 15 percent.

1.
The Jedi were considered scholars of erudite lore, keepers of the peace, and the guardians of justice in the galaxy, with Jedi Masters often working together on missions with their respective Padawan apprentices in order to pass their knowledge and employ their abilities on the field.